Do Comments On Web Pages Ruin Science?

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 2, 2013 @10:17AM from the peer-reviewed-opinions dept.

GregLaden writes "Last week Popular Science shut down comments on their web pages citing the damage being done to the public perception of science as their reason. Earlier research suggested this might be a good idea because trollish, negative comments can color the perception by readers of a news story. However, some have taken Popular Science's move to be anti-science, implying that science itself is positively affected by web and blog comments, as though these comments contributed to the science being done itself. Here, I take exception to this and suggest that while comments are important in relation to the public perception of science (which itself is important) blog and web commentary never, or only rarely, influences the process of scientific inquiry itself."

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What a self serving twat by onyxruby · 2013-10-02 10:23 · Score: -1, Offtopic

You come to a site that cover news stories, including science stories and does so through user comments. You then question the value of user comments with regards to having any form of value. How the hell did this troll ever get posted?