A: We do remove some particularly strong uses of bad language, but on the whole we allow swearing in comments since we don't want to impose a double standard on commenters: our writers are permitted to swear in articles.
Various people claiming to be former lieutenants have spoken out and last year a bunch of hacked emails described in detail how internet commenters in the small town of Ganzhou were instructed to guide conversations on the web.
Each of them has a news line, some information about it, and a "conclusion" that the commenters should reach.
We face this kind of problem, so cover that instead.' Because the comments are off-topic they're then removed, which leads to cries of censorship and the claim that the Guardian is sexist – that the problems of white working-class males (who these commenters say are the real victims in society) are ignored".
While commenters were not blind to the problems, the virtues of a great many cities were extolled, sometimes in downright poetic terms.
A case in point; many commenters have focused on the fact that they felt Smart was wasting police time.
It's not hugely surprising that many male commenters may not have witnessed sexism or discrimination firsthand.
If anything, her blog is a colourful rebuke to the commenters who sneer that people on benefits should just make a cheap lentil stew to last them all week: "I do use lentils in my cooking – I make polenta bolognaise, I make burgers out of them – but I do get infuriated by people who say, 'Oh, just eat lentils.' Actually if you were to buy a bag of dried lentils it would cost you a couple of quid.
Government officials don't refer to the 50-cent army by name, but in 2010 an editorial in the state-backed Global Times discussed the "invisible commenters" of the web.
Your comments stand as a public record of your participation on the site: think Hansard, for commenters.
In a small minority of situations, anonymity allows commenters to protect their identities where they need to refer to their employers, or a revealing personal experience for example.
