NYT Cooking Asks Commenters To Prove Husband Deserves Dinner
The recipe site says a stronger moderation policy will protect weeknight meals from unexamined men.
NYT Cooking has updated its comment policy to require users to prove their husbands deserve dinner before posting notes about substitutions, cook times, or how “Greg said this one is a keeper.”
The new form asks commenters to confirm whether the husband in question has ever cleaned the roasting pan without announcing it, understands that shallots are not fancy onions for women, and can be trusted with a weekday sauce without turning it into a referendum on his mother.
“Our readers take food seriously,” said moderation editor Claire Mollen. “If someone writes, ‘My husband loved this,’ the community deserves to know whether that man has earned access to lemon zest.”
Commenters who cannot meet the standard may still rate the recipe, but the site will automatically change their note to “I fed a man again” and remove any claim that the dish was under-seasoned.
The policy has already improved discourse, though one user appealed after being told her husband could have the soup but not the garnish.
