Nick Denton, who runs Gawker, Lifehacker and Gizmodo, on comments:
“The idea of capturing the intelligence of the readership — that’s a joke.” […] “I don’t like going into the comments. … For every two comments that are interesting — even if they’re critical, you want to engage with them — there will be eight that are off-topic or just toxic,” he said.
Denton says that writers can’t engage because they need to work on the next story, mainly because he treats them as assembly line workers at a word factory. Not to worry, though, Nick has a solution, and like another Internet savant, Arianna Huffington, as usual his genius plan involves paying nothing for people to contribute to his site:
The answer? Denton said his sites are planning to post some stories that allow only a hand-picked, pre-approved group of people to comment on them.
I can’t read all the comments here, but I read a lot of them, and my take is pretty much the opposite of Denton’s. I learn from reading comments, engaging isn’t a waste of time, and it would kill the comments section to have gold star commenters running the roost. But I do agree with one of his observations: having people use their real names is not the solution. Idiots don’t know they’re embarrassing themselves online, so they’re proud to use their real names.
By the way, if my sitemeter math is right, his “smaller sites” get traffic that’s about on-par with ours (2 million visitors/month).
lonesomerobot
ARGLE BARGLE!!
vernon
mistermix: your gay………OMG lol pwned
Baud
To be fair, the commenters here are a step above what you’ll find on other sites.
lonesomerobot
I can see how a site like Gawker, HuffPo or CNN might elicit this question. To me there’s really no point in commenting where there are already 1000+ comments. What I have to say has already been said (even if it’s toxic or off-topic).
That’s why I prefer sites like this where the commentariat are fairly well established and also well informed.
Also idiocy is not too often tolerated.
Raven
You should read the Athens Banner Herald comments. . .wait, maybe you shouldn’t.
c u n d gulag
My moniker is far cleverer than my real name is.
My real name is kind of (yawn) boring.
Actually, the vast majority of the time, my moniker is far clever than I am myself.
mistermix
@Raven: Newspaper comment sections are sewers in general, mainly because reporters never engage, and there’s no intelligent moderation.
Raven
@lonesomerobot: “That’s why I prefer sites like this where the commentariat are fairly well established and also well informed.”
One out of two ain’t bad!
Poopyman
I’d have to say that the comments a site gets is a reflection of the quality of the posts. That sort of explains the WaPo comments section, dunnit?
BTW, I believe (not being a native Southerner), that the plural form is “all y’all”. Or should I take the title personally?
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Occasionally, even Samara says something insightful. I think his idea is a great way to drive down viewers.
(Edited cause i didn’t like so many “idea”s)
Betty Cracker
@mistermix: That’s the truth. Yet my contacts in the news biz inform me that they really do read the comments and attempt to use them as a window into local public opinion. Perhaps that explains all the ads for anti-psychotic medications…
General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)
Most days these days, the comment section on BJ is very good, other times, like yesterday, it is sea of bobbing idiots trying to drag everything down to whale shit on the bottom of their troll ocean. The front pagers have a lot to do with how the day goes, the pits come, usually with Cole troll baiting to amuse his bored delinquent self.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Poopyman: Nope, just y’all. Why would you say “all” twice?
Jim C
What constitutes a “toxic” comment? I honestly don’t understand his term – is it coarse language, a caustic reply, dissent of any kind?
lonesomerobot
@Poopyman: not being a native Southerner, you’re over-thinking it.
Caerus
To be honest his sites have garbage for comments because, outside of io9, most of the stories are link-bait crap. When you treat your audience like a commodity and not a community jerks are inevitable.
Just about the only large comment-volume site I’ve seen get it right is LGF. You have to sign in and can get called to the carpet by the other commenters; it seems to work pretty well.
Denton though? He’s probably screwed. He wants a community but won’t pay his authors for more than link-baiting and trend spotting.
Cathy W
@mistermix: This. I think if he’s upset about the comments being “toxic”, the cure is to get rid of the toxic comments, which will then cease to make people who don’t enjoy swimming in the cesspool go looking elsewhere for intelligent conversation.
Someone on Making Light pointed out, though, that Denton is being a little disingenuous about this: his product isn’t intelligent conversation, his product is page views, and as long as the knuckle-draggers keep viewing his pages, he doesn’t actually need to care how much cess they put in the pool…
lonesomerobot
@Jim C: that would be any comment not written in crayon
kd bart
I blame AJ Daulerio. He killed Deadspin. Now, he’s going to kill all of Gawker.
Poopyman
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): I have no idea. I recall getting that bit of wisdom from somebody from Down South years ago. Since I don’t use either form I at least haven’t embarrassed myself. At least not by misuse of a Southernism. Unlike Mitt, but that’s an old story by now.
Poopyman
@lonesomerobot: A common charge against me, I’ll admit. :^)
Caerus
Moderation? Seriously you guys need to put up a page for filter-naughty words or something.
owlbear1
With names like “Gawker, Lifehacker and Gizmodo” what kind of crowd do you expect? Socratic give and take?
I mean “Ballon Juice” just screams, “Here be Descartes!”
WereBear
Remember what George Carlin said:
Poopyman
… And when a blogger calls capturing his readership’s ideas “a joke”, he deserves the kind of comments he apparently gets.
MikeBoyScout
Y’all?
I believe the authorized dialect of this blog dictates “Yinz guys”.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Poopyman: As a kid, even though I lived in West Texas, I was one of those who tried to be very proper with English, not that I was or is all that great at grammar rules. I would say “want to” rather than “wanna”. But “y’all” always made more sense than “you” when needing a plural.
Niques
“All y’all” for emphasis.
capt
I’m pretty sure my comments do suck. Oh well.
Egg Berry
I’ve read Lifehacker quite a bit. I don’t know where he’s getting toxic comments from that site. Gawker is a celebrity/politics gossip site, and you sew what you reap. Also, notice Denton never promoted the fact that he owned Fleshb0t until recently.
maurinsky
It’s “you guys” in Connecticut. I like y’all, though, I think it’s pretty useful.
A clear commenting policy with good moderation leads to readable and interesting comments, in my experience. Denton clearly isn’t looking for a way to make his comments better, he’s already decided on the solution he likes, and that’s that. It will make his sites (and I don’t think I’ve ever visited any of them except by accidentally clicking a link to them) more static and boring, as we like our internet to be interactive.
Niques
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): And “y’all” sounds so much better than the “youse guys” I’ve heard from relatives in the north.
nitpicker
Well now the pressure’s on to write something witty. And me without my smoking jacket. I FEEL ANGST!
Thanks for nothing, Mistermix.
curiousleo
I read the comment section here and once in a great while I’ll even post. Why? You spell y’all correctly. ;) No, really, it’s because there’s at least a veneer of civility and I don’t weep for the future of humanity and reach for the eye bleach after reading 3 comments. I think TNC’s place is the comment section but I like it here, too.
OT: There is a real chance in NC to defeat the anti-same sex marriage amendment. The polling is decent and many people in NC are decent. And the vote is in May not November so turn out is key (and doable). But the Protect All NC Families is short of cash. And we need volunteer callers. But the cash need right now is big. Is it totally gauche to beg for your spare change? Yes? Well, I’m a gauche kinda person.
http://www.protectallncfamilies.org/
FFrank
@Owlbear
John, that needs to go up to the top! I just snorted my coffee!
muddy
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): @Niques:
All y’all is generally preceded with “Fk” when I have heard it.
Tom Johnson
“All y’all” is, technically, plural.
Egg Berry
@Egg Berry:
Reap what you sow. duh.
nitpicker
@muddy: And followed by “f**kers” as well.
WereBear
@Tom Johnson:”y’all” is, technically, plural.
Jim C
@lonesomerobot: This seems the obvious conclusion, especially in Gawker’s regard.
Personally, I’ve always found “First!” or “Sorry to be OT, but …” to be more toxic than overly caustic, yet on-point, arguments. Maybe I’ve been online too long.
General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)
Yet collective nonsense
Poopyman
@Egg Berry: “Sew what you rip”, also too.
Poopyman
@Poopyman: @Belafon (formerly anonevent): @lonesomerobot: @Niques: @Tom Johnson: @WereBear: @General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero):
Inadvertently supporting Denton’s point, I guess.
DougJarvus Green-Ellis
@vernon:
You win the thread.
samara morgan
lolwut?
what do you call “sin-bannings” and “time outs”?
you cudlips already do that.
JK
Lifehacker has great comments. I often learn more from the comments than the post itself. I wonder if Denton reads the site?
Also, the comments here and on Ta-Nehisi Coates’s blog demonstrate that it is possible to have a thoughtful group of commenters.
norbizness
It’s a corollary to the old saying about games of chance: “if you can’t identify the grudge-holding, catchphrase-using, of-no-marginal-utility-whatsoever commenter at the table, it’s all of you.”
virginia
When Richard Lawson left, I quit Gawker.
I guess I don’t get why Nick Denton feels the need to state the obvious. Not exactly a light-bulb moment there. People are dumb and they write comments online. Okay, what next, Nick?
I’m ready for the possible onslaught of “y’use” now that we seem to be momentarily done, bless us, with “y’all.” I’m really really ready for any new David Chase series on my tv screen. And sometimes I wish Tony Soprano was available to run for POTUS.
“Cheesy grits” is the real classic though. Poor poor Mittens. A life of real deprivation.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim C:
Interesting. I rarely mind O/T digressions — real-life conversations tend to be most interesting and memorable when they meander and ramble down all kinds of side roads, and for me the same is often true of thread discussions — but when there’s a need to brake hard and shift gears (to torture the driving analogy just a little more) I do appreciate a “Sorry for the O/T” alert. (Think of it as a traffic signal.) Hardly toxic, in most cases, especially if there’s a breaking news story. And sometimes threads just go “open” on their own, especially if they’ve been going for a while with no new threads posted by FPers.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@samara morgan: They allow you to post here, and then suffer the consequences for truly over the line behavior, which generally involves racial or sexual slurs, or being Derp.
Comrade Mary
Metafilter has a $5 signup, an active team of mods, and a subside where the community hashes out issues. It works pretty well.
Meanwhile, the CBC comments area is such a sewer that there’s actually a Greasemonkey script available to remove comments.
http://horrell.ca/code/cbcca-remove-comments/
MariedeGournay
So Gawker commenters will be even more high school now?
Walker
Writers are not community managers. If you want to have comments on a major site, you need to have a community manager.
Soonergrunt
[Just whistles, keeps on walking]
ET
I figure that every blog that allows comments is going to have a handful of troublemakers and off-topicers – that is the nature of the beast.
However, if it is a real problem I figure it is a problem with the blog or the type of commenters it attracts. TNC’s blog touches on some heavy topics and while it does occasionally get a few commenters it might wish it didn’t, considering the topics the commenters there are great. But whatever you do don’t read the comments on Yahoo stories. They most always devolve into a hate fest.
Rommie
Trolls are attracted by the amount of eyes reading as much as advertisers are. Big Troll on a small bridge, or big enough troll on a large bridge, and you get the cess sprayed into comments. It’s magic!
Mino
Aw, Encyclopaedia Brittanica is going out of print. Wikipedia is ascendant. EB will be continuing on-line.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/after-244-years-encyclopaedia-britannica-stops-the-presses/
I couldn’t number the times I used ours to write school papers.
Anyone remember the character that read them end to end?
Walker
@Poopyman:
This is a sub-dialect distinction. Y’all is sufficient in the eastern coastal states, while “all y’all” tends to be more mountain south and deep south.
Jim C
@SiubhanDuinne:
I guess I do see it differently. Some of it is based in my past experience – I found one site’s commentariat intolerable for their rampant, relentless straying OT from the second or third comment (back when this particular blogger would actually type more than a sentence or two with his links) as if they just couldn’t wait for the inevitable and interminable open threads that began to overwhelm that site – and the fact that most of the “Sorry for the OT” comments here really can wait for an open thread, aren’t coming late in the discussion, they’re really just the outbursts of people who have the concentration of three-year-olds who need to pee: “You’re not talking about what I want to talk about RIGHT NOW! BIOFUELS!”
Then again, maybe those just go right by you – I differentiate those from the more organic ones you mention.
norbizness
And “all y’all squares” tends to be from the Five Boroughs.
samara morgan
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): bulshytt.
im banned for “appalling” statements, or for righteously picking on EDK and freddie.
show me where i EVER made a racial or sexual slur.
link or GTFO
the first time i was banned was because i said missionaries got what they deserved on AL’s Evil Poor Black Somali Muslim Pirates kill Noble Rich White American Missionaries thread.
Soonergrunt
@nitpicker:
For about two days after I got promoted I felt that way. Then I realized two things:
1) That was paralyzing me. I was becoming afraid of writing something NOT witty or erudite.
2) Nobody was going to notice if I, of all people, wasn’t writing witty, erudite posts.
samara morgan
@ET: im banned at TNC.
for picking on TNC’s homeslice, Ross Douthat.
/thats what she said
Soonergrunt
@Egg Berry: But if you reap cotton, and then spin it into thread, you could then “sew what you reap.”
So, you’re good either way.
Morbo
Spend 15 minutes reading reddit comments and then tell me Denton’s wrong.
chopper
@Egg Berry:
you reap what you sow, but you sew what you rip.
chopper
@Morbo:
or youtube comments. yikes. or CNN or even the fucking weather channel website.
it seems the larger and more general the site the crazier the comments.
Schlemizel
xkcd had a great comic a few weeks back. The character calculated the cost of buying ads on all the relevant web sites till election day as a couple of million buck. He then figured you could hire a couple of dozen trolls for a fraction of that & not only flood the comments but appear to be grass roots!
I have no idea if the artist is aware of the RNCs cash for posting program that was exposed last cycle but I think an awful lot of the sludge in many comment sections comes from, or because of, these paid trolls.
vernon
@DougJarvus Green-Ellis:
Thanks dude; I’m trying to Intelligently Engage Steven Landsburg right now, check it out: http://www.thebigquestions.com/2012/03/14/the-analogists/
El Cid
If you want to do something like that, just do 2 columns — a column for your internal / approved commenters, the rest for the vox populi / scumbag masses.
Schlemizel
I love BJs comments but I have no idea why it works so well (and I doubt anyone else can guess either). We have our trolls but they are not unbearable for the most part. We have our pissing contests, our dreary firebagger/obot name calling. But it almost always a pleasure to read all of you people, even when I disagree (you know, when you are wrong). I want to say thanks to all of you. We should appreciate each other for the fine work we do here.
Schlemizel
Probably the best comments section on all the Intertubes is TNC. The guy engenders debates about some pretty heated topics, race and gender issues for instance. There is the occasional bottom feeder & Mr. Coates drops the hammer on them right away. But he does not ban disagreement or argument as long as it is on topic, honest and forthright. I feel smarter every time I read his stuff & his commentators.
Scalzi, an SF blog, often wonders into politics and social issues. He also wields a swift hammer against vitriol, racism and hate but allows a lively discussion within the rules.
I think the crowd that goes to sites that have the most problems just are not that interested in discussion, are not that well read and have too many axes they feel need a good grinding.
mistermix
@Walker: Depends on the site. We get plenty of comments and the writers here manage the comments section. Reporters are tweeting their asses off. Why couldn’t they run through the comments for a few minutes per day?
ant
over at orange satan, the comment section is just bickering between different commentators.
at least 70 percent of any given comment thread is just debates about a hide rate, or about how someone wasn’t sufficiently a pure enough dem back in the dean days to currently have a valid opinion, etc,etc. its all off topic meta there.
im always amazed at how the wingers flock to any given newspaper comment section, and flood it with their bile and piss. effectively, there is no noticeable difference between my local newspaper online, and fox news’ online stuff.
Schlemizel
@samara morgan:
As a regular reader I can’t imagine getting the hammer for merely dissing the Douchehat. What did you say? What was TNCs warning? The only no warning bannings I ever saw on TNC were flat out ugly racist, sexist or truly vile. He will delete a comment & insert a note about toning it down or hoping he didn’t misunderstand or other suggestion.
Lets hear the whole story.
As for your banning here? Well, to be honest I try not to read you much, your posts are way too often annoying, tangential, bitter and rehashes of old grievances. I will admit I have never seen you out of line in serious ways but, as I said, I skip your stuff a lot too. But the constant dredge of old butthurt (erectile disfuntion has not been an FPer here in months, give it a rest already) reminds me of dealing with a two year old who is dead set on having a tantrum about something that passed hours ago. The time out may not stop the tantrum but it give the adults ears a rest.
samara morgan
@Schlemizel: you can ask TNC about it.
he also banned me for talking smack about Weigel, another of his “friends”, and for changing my name. that was a just an excuse. he said i was sockpuppeting, but i only have one nic at a time.
Kain was here a couple of weeks ago pimping his new “dude, conservatives sukk” blog.
where were you?
Schlemizel
@samara morgan:
Avoiding him like always. I saw that but your butthurt whining about him was going on before that & happened in this thread two weeks later. Do you think that this is helping or hurting your efforts to win hearts and minds here? Do you expect one day a large number of contributors are going to think “HMMM, she is right, we must make up for these past offenses post haste? What would those repairs look like?
I said ‘bad’ things to the useless gasbag when he was here but gave up when I saw he was incapable of honest exchanges. When JC said he turned over a new leaf I gave him a second chance & still found him to be a dull fellow unworthy of his status on the FP. So I gave him up & let him go. I don’t find your relevant stuff intolerable but the constant grind of the same 2 or 3 axes long after the universe has moved on & in every thread no matter how unrelated is tiresome. You would be better off here (and my guess is IRL) if you could just let go of that baggage.
Why ask him? you are here now. What did you say about the Douchehat & what warning did you get?
vernon
@vernon:
Dammit … “trying to engage Landsburg” = operative word “trying.” My post on his blog has been “awaiting moderation” for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, other posts have gone up.
In case anyone cares, here’s what I said (and please contribute, if you are so inclined; I think it would be hilarious if BJers were to shake things up a bit over there: http://www.thebigquestions.com/2012/03/14/the-analogists/ ):
kerFuFFler
Y’all = you all (plural you)
All y’all = all of you all or all of you(pl)
A funny but apocryphal story my dad told was about the persistence of the plural y’all construction. When teaching German to Southerners in the army, my dad reports the following question: Wo gehen Sie’all hin?
Dan
I agree with Denton’s overall premise that most comments sections are pretty awful. BJ is an exception (and about 5-10% of the time, stuff can get pretty stupid too).
I do wish that newspapers would just get rid of their comments sections altogether. They serve zero purpose.
Zach Pruckowski
I think a lot of what you get in comments is impacted by what your posts discuss. If you’re going to go all serious on “Fiscal Policy in a Liquidity Trap”, you’re going to get different comments than the guys who steal prototype iPhones and hijack trade shows for their own entertainment.
shortstop
Knowing how to spell “y’all” is worth a lot. I once was dragged into an argument by a would-be pedantic but only half-literate Louisianan who insisted it’s “ya’ll.” When I asked what that was supposed to be contracting — “ya” and “all”? — she went into a monthlong snit.
Nothing wrong with doubling down with “all y’all” to refer to groups, even though “y’all” is already plural. It follows a fine Southern tradition of repetition for emphasis: little tiny puppy, big huge bill, etc.
slag
@DougJarvus Green-Ellis: Happy now?
James
You learn from reading comments?? That’s a laugh! The only comments any of you “learn” from are the ones that agree with your position. I’ve posted numerous times on here disagreeing with various posts and all I get is insults and immature name-calling.
You should look in the mirror instead of finding ways to pat yourself on the back.
But then, when the entire site is just an echo chamber of progressive horsecrap, there isn’t much to learn from anyway.
shortstop
@James: Really? As you describe it, you’re the common denominator in everyone’s lack of regard. Might want to look into that.
slag
@James:
Irony. It’s a harsh mistress.
shortstop
@slag: Yet fair. Yet fair.
vernon
@slag:
Just cuz it can’t fit on a T-shirt doesn’t make it off topic.
mistermix
@James:
James can’t stop hangin’ out on blogs
He’s on top, breakin’ all the ladies hearts
Amir Khalid
I have heard Malaysians (Malays, particularly) saying “y’all”, or more often “you all”, to address a group informally, often dropped into a sentence in Malay as a substitute for kalian, a somewhat informal second-person plural pronoun.
@kerFuFFler:
The funny thing about this is there’s already a German pronoun that means “y’all”, more or less: ihr, the plural of du (thou). So the correct German for “Where are y’all going?” would be : Wo geht ihr hin?
El Cid
@James: Oh yeah? Fuck you, you stupid baloney-head!
pseudonymous in nc
@Poopyman:
I don’t think it’s as easy as that. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of scale: commenting at HuffPo or Yahoo or similar is like throwing a pebble into the ocean. Then there are site operators where the scale is manageable, but they just don’t give a shit about the comments they host, and they’re only there to generate more clicks and ad views from refresh-refresh-refresh. That encourages drive-by shit-flinging.
Building an online community through comments is hard; building one that can scale is even harder, and it takes skills that aren’t the same as the skills that create the posts. TNC gets mentioned a lot, but he’s the exception rather than the rule in terms of those kinds of sites, because he manages to bridge the gap between writer and community manager.
scarshapedstar
Otherwise known as the Wingnut Circle Jerk model. There’s nothing more fascinating than reading a bunch of wholly predictable sycophants. Just ask Red State, Hot Air, old/bad LGF, etc.
Actually, this is precisely what Gawker did before their site got hacked. You had to go through a trial period during which your comments would not appear until a moderator decided one of them was worthy of being read, which basically meant you had to kiss the author’s ass, or Steve Jobs’s ass, typically both.
Then their site got hacked, and there was a quite justifiable outrage from all the people who’d been forced to create an email/password combo to comment on a stupid goddamn site to begin with.
So they stopped doing that. Sort of. Now, anyone can comment, as long as they give their email and click on the spam verification link, the first 50 or so times. And there’s also an in-crowd of “starred commenters” whose comments go to the top of every thread and thus are basically the only ones visible on any popular post. Seems exactly like what Denton says he wants already.
samara morgan
@Schlemizel: my position on EDk has been consistent.
He hasnt changed a nanoparticle in the four years i have known him. He reprinted that whole “inherently conservative LOTR” culture post from three years agao at TAS. He got slagged for it then, but he got atta-boys here.
mixie should stop patting himself on the back.
do you know what freddie and Kain did when i commented on their posts to point out things they said at TAS and Culture 11? they marked a comment as spam so i couldnt post comments. i have a WP blog, i know how that works.
BJ also has the pie filter. An information cocoon.
so fucking use it, Schlemizel.
but dont expect me to swallow mixies bathetic selfcongratulation.
because its a lie.
samara morgan
@Schlemizel: he banned me the first time 2 or three years ago, for ragging on Douthat’s Dr. Tiller post.
Atlantic mafia.
He banned me a second time for critting a Dave Weigel post he linked.
the last time he banned me because i changed my nic. i do that periodically to foil stalkers, and because my positions evolve. but i only have one at a time. he said i was sockpuppetting.
i have never sockpuppetted.
nitpicker
Once, I made the mistake of deciding I had to comment on a RedState post. I went through the process of signing up and posted a comment–one that was, in my opinion, not disagreeable, though it disagreed with the post–and, upon returning to see if someone had responded, the RedState admin had changed my user name to something stupid and said he had in the response. This was followed by many, many LOL COMMIE!11!! posts and, when I pointed out that, regardless of their childish antics, I noticed they hadn’t responded to my points, I was banned. Classy bunch of folks.
samara morgan
@Schlemizel: and the real reason i get banned is because i say “appalling” things.
Cole told me that the first time he banned me.
I say appalling things that are true.
at this point i care fuckall about your hearts and minds.
this isnt Afghanistan.
i know i cant persuade anyone here. all i can do is make you uncomfortable enough to praps question your world view.
commenting on blogs is like what Julian Assange says–
Balloonjuice is just as full of commenters preening their ideological plummage for their cohort as Redstate and HotAir. you just have different cohorts.
Spadizzly
@ET:
True dat. Yahoo is by far the worst of the worst. Never go there without a HAZMAT suit.
ReflectedSky
I’m a starred commenter at Jezebel. There are some very smart people who comment there. It’s a great place to get scientific researchers taking part the latest pop culture misinterpretation of some study. i09 also has very smart people in the comments section who are interesting to read. Lord Denton definitely tried to dumb down the commentariat with the last round of changes, but as long as you avoid link-bait about the Kardashians and a couple of other subjects, the impact is minimal. Methinks Lord Denton mostly reads Gawker and Deadspin comments, where the commenters are definitely in line with the tone of the posts. Having only started sampling Deadspin recently (as part of a general obsession with football), I’m stunned at how lame much of the site content is; it’s not surprising that the commenting isn’t interesting.
I just starting commenting at BJ, and it still makes me nervous. For all its flaws, the (old?) Gawker approach felt safer. My first couple of comments were held until one of the editors approved them. There’s a convenient way to see if someone has responded to you, without digging back through the thread. It’s a broader universe of commenters, which means some are scrolled past quickly, but you also don’t feel as much like the cool kids at the middle table can stare you down and make you change seats.
Denton apparently knows how to make money. More power to him. But he constantly rags on the people who click on his links, create free content for him, and generally put dollars in his pocket. It’s so 1% of him.
kerFuFFler
@samara morgan</a
“Commenting on blogs….It’s all bullshit. It’s ALL bullshit.”
One wonders why you comment…
It’s true that most blogs have tendencies to become echo chambers in the comments—-even, horrors!, Balloonjuice. That, or back and forth trollfests with no redeeming qualities. But in the threads here I often find delightful nuggets, great links and interesting arguments. Sometimes I am treated like a troll, but I hope in time that other commenters will recognize that I will respond reasonably to ideas that conflict with mine when they are well supported. I find no shame in changing my opinion to reflect exposure to new information.
kerFuFFler
@Amir Khalid: Hi Amir!
You’re right that “ihr geht” is casual plural for “you go” (or y’all go). But so is the more formal “Sie gehen”—-it can be singular or plural with that spelling.
I’m just glad that someone read my comment and that there are readers here who can appreciate how funny “Wo gehen Sie’all hin?’ sounds when drawled in a heavy southern accent.
Schlemizel
@samara morgan:
Thats all a maybe, but you never answered any of the questions I asked in my reply. Plus I never was angry or mean to you – why “fuck you”?
Roxie
Try the Sac Bee comment section. You’ll be pulling your hair out in a matter of minutes. Balloon Juice is my refuge
Schlemizel
@samara morgan:
I guess I don’t see as much of that as you do but OK. Again though you really avoided answering my questions
Schlemizel
@samara morgan:
Sorry, still not enough info for me to understand if you had it coming & my experience is that I have said some unkind things about other Atlanic people there. I got deleted and a warning from TNC when I went after little andy myself. He was right with in the context of his blog, I was mean & vulgar. but not banned because I let it go & posted a very similar comment without the vulgarity.
Schlemizel
and lastly, Samara – we seem to be talking past each other since I can’t see your point & you won’t answer my questions. So, no hard feelings on my part – I’ll continue to skip your posts & you can continue doing the same thing over and over and over and over while wondering why you never get a different result.
samara morgan
@Schlemizel: heres one thing i say that i bet pisses you off.
After the Arab Spring, the American Fall.
because that means your sons noble service was for nothing.
i do not give a shit if you pie me.
its better for me because i dont have to ‘splain why i dont care what you think of me cuz i wont make nice… its useless to make nice. suck it up and see the truth..
ax TNC if you dont believe me. i can post the mails.
and i answered your questions.
samara morgan
@Schlemizel: yeah, riight…”talking past each each other” is balloon juice speak for “i just lost that argument”.
ax Cole if he will let me post TNC’s mails to me.
i double dog dare you.
;)
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
most of what denton inc produces is meant to give structure to mole hills that might aim to become a mountain. they are on the look out for the next runaway bride, or cultural phenomenon. toxic comments to him are anything that might prevent a story from becoming a break out.
commentors that want to call bullshit, or merely question the ethics of finding the girl in the third row behind the bench of a college bball game and measuring your success by how much you can cause a reaction in the person singled out.
toxic to him is the silliness of the people who fall for the bait, because they say things that show how silly it is when you’re whole notion of journalism is based on what people can be expected to react to.
Schlemizel
@samara morgan: @samara morgan:
How can I lose the argument when you refuse to answer my question & instead respond with more obscenities and the same old whines?
Why ask TNC or Cole? I asked you since this is so important to you & you ignore that to spew vitriol at me despite the fact I am not mad at you at all. No, you never answered any one of my questions – not a single one.
Both my son and I are well aware his service was a waste, trust me he is more painfully aware of it than you are. You’ll get no fight from me on this red herring.
That does seem to be your goal (sorry, given you won’t give me facts I am left to impute motives) to draw me into a name calling contest, to make this a personal pissing contest rather than an discussion of what happened & why.
samara morgan
@Schlemizel:
sounds pretty personal to me.
i dont give a shit if you “like” me. or anyone else here either.
and i answered your question.
i told you when and why TNC banned me.
YOU made it personal.
not me.
like i said, ax TNC if you dont believe me.
or ax Cole to let me post the mails.
Cole has a no repost of email policy.
im sure its a “banning” offense.
;)
samara morgan
@Schlemizel: and as for Kain?
i succeeded in my goal….. which was to not let him get a toehold here to scam the juicitariat AGAIN and leverage his way onto the Atlantic as “culture” editor.
i mailed Sullivan every single excruciatingly stupid thing he said here, and there were some doozies.
;)
Collin
There have been posts and comments insulting people who have commented on the Atlantic, which includes me. Now this post insults people who use their real name, which includes me. You don’t know me, but do you know people like me? If so, what do you have against us?
Wes G
it depends. if you have a great moderators that delete useless, racist or spammy comments, the comment section is easy.
but for most sites, i dread going into the comment section. my long held belief since 2008 is that if it’s a popular news website, it’s going to be flooded with right wing trolls going “ha……obummer….destroying this country like a socialist tyrant……only a matter.. of….time…death…”
EDIT: HA! “your comment is awaiting moderation” yea.. exactly. thats why reading comments is pleasant on BJ. thank god for this.