Blogs, Twitter, comments and message boards teem with diatribe blurted out before it can be given the cognition it deserves. The results range from the incomprehensible to the abusive, but how do you deal with it? And should you?

The appeal of blogs, tweets and even new tools like AudioBoo are their immediacy, their intimacy and their spur of the moment honesty. But too often those rough diamonds are lost amongst the swill of gobbledegook from the bloggosphere, twitterati and comment trolls.

With a few exceptions, devining reliable information from the web is a dark art, but one we’re mastering. At Republic Publishing we’re immensely proud of our editorial standards. None of our sites host unbalanced outbursts, un-checked sources or baseless opinion.

As old fashioned as it sounds in the shiny world of the web, they’re editorial traditions, often forgotten by online publishers, but just as valid online as in the print domain.

But that’s just the content we can control. What about reader input, or to use media parlance, “user-generated content.”

Potentially, it’s a minefield. Take the comments section of Electricpig. In the past 12 months just ten percent of comments were legitimate, and in the great scheme of the web, that’s remarkably high.

In the last year, spammers have hurled just shy of 30,000 bogus links, swearwords and gibberish its way. Easily enough to drown out valid and interesting debate. But it’s worth the effort to sift the gold dust from the silt. Engaging our audience is what makes Republic Publishing’s approach work.

We don’t just slap content on the web and hope for the best. We reach out to readers with properly planned, brilliantly executed copy, pictures and video. It’s hardly surprising they want to get involved. If only more of the web thought the same way.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, of course I planned this blog post. Fooled you though, didn’t I?

Once upon a time, I would have hit up Mac forums with an urgent plea for help, put the thread on an RSS feed and wait for the solution to roll in from some benevolent, omniscient stranger. But here’s the problem: that doesn’t work any more. I’ve put a request out on several sites and got no answer.

This isn’t the first time this has happened either. Now, it’s possible that people are simply doing their jobs rather than acting as internet surfing Samaritans in tight times, but is it not possible that there are too many forums out there? It’s great being able to find places to discuss just about every subject under the sun, but with that comes the risk of dilution. Internet accessibility has expanded exponentially in the last decade, but when every one is on a different message board, it’s not fun having no one answer your question.

So, I’ve turned to my Twitter followers for help. Will I get a response? I’ve got my fingers crossed, but it’s sheer chance whether anyone interested in hearing what I have to say also knows about Folder Actions in OS X Leopard. If you do, by the way, please email me!