On the one hand, well said. On the other hand, I've been commenting here for four or five years now (and on Gawker, and on io9 and Kotaku for probably the last two years or so). My comments are usually reasonably well-recommended (the middle-of-the-road ones probably get twenty or thirty recommends, I guess?), but I'm…

Yeah, it seems a heavy price to pay for a good comment haha.

A few thoughts after many years on the Gawkerverse:

Is there a protocol for getting out of the greys? Other than just get followed- I mean how do I get followed? I don't want to turn this into a "everyone beg to be followed thread," so I'm just trying to figure out what to do. Especially since, if I am understanding correctly, we'll have to get followed on all of the…

That way, only the Jezebel authors will be forced to look at the rape gifs, during the moderating process? Um...if so, how's that a win?

I apparently now have a star and would hope to do that (I had a star in the past but then in a transition lost it). I just worry that if the only options to do this are to dig through snuff porn, I'm not going to be willing to do it and neither will others who are approved. I can't say I would blame anyone for that.

Yeah, I'm bummed about heading back to the land of grey. At least if they could give a simple explanation of how to get ungrayed. I have posted a lot over the years and am clearly not a troll, but I keep getting bumped into the grey and don't really understand how one becomes approved.

You should be advocating that those with privileges dive into the grays more and promote comments that are contrarian and/or thought provoking. Ultimately the old system of grays delegated moderation to approved commenters. Those commenters should step up and make sure that it isn't just a bunch of head nodding in…

Same here. I liked the new system where my comments were visible along with others who were starred commenters. :(

Jessica, I am so proud of you for standing up for your site, your authors and your commenting community.

"I've been a dedicated member of the site (as have many others) but have never been approved despite many upvotes and all the like."

There were more than a few of us who just gave up after a few months. There's not much point in taking the time to write an insightful and well-composed comment if no one ever sees it.

Slay Belle, thanks. You've told me this before and I've commented on those mod threads but no response. I'm not a troll but I feel like you must think I am one because I never get authorship rights over there. And, based on the other responses I have recieved when I post something like this, I'm not the only one. …

I got unfollowed by Jezebel and back in to the grays shortly before the new commenting system happened and I was irrationally bummed. Not sure why it happened, but I had been unnecessarily snarky on a post so maybe that was it. It was also right after the meowmeowbeanz episode of Community aired and I felt like a…

Yeah. I get starred a lot, but Jezebel followed me once, until I noticed a semantical error in an article and pointed it out, and BOOM! Back to the greys for me.

I hear this. I've literally just started to make "friends" and seem to be considered a wee bit funny round these parts ... aaaaaaand now it's back to square one.

I hope they make it easier to get out of the greys. Really, if you're not scum, you should be allowed out of the greys. A flag button would make it real easy to see who actually belongs down there.

Would it be possible to get a clearly-posted explanation of how to get out of the greys at some point? Maybe in the drop-down next to the J logo if possible, or at the bottom if need be (since the Commenting Guidelines linked on the About page haven't been updated since the days of stars). I just feel like we had to…

Okay. So can we also do a thing where if a commenter's history clearly shows a commitment to thoughtful commentary, they get approved by GM? Because this grey nonsense is really tiring to those of us who comment regularly, and whenever kinja updates, have to prove ourselves time and time again like we're trying to…

When will you be looking at more commenters to approve? I've been a dedicated member of the site (as have many others) but have never been approved despite many upvotes and all the like. I think if you switch back to this system, you have to start actively looking for new commenters to star or you have to REGULARLY…