Slashdot Mirror
Writer: Internet Comments Belong On Personal Blogs, Not News Sites
sixoh1 writes: Nicholas Jackson at Pacific Standard suggests that internet comments are permanently broken (in response to an issue Jezebel is having with violent misogynist GIFs and other inappropriate commentary). He argues that blogs are a good-enough solution to commentary and dialog across the internet. "They belong on personal blogs, or on Twitter or Tumblr or Reddit, where individuals build a full, searchable body of work and can be judged accordingly."
This seems to hold true for most broad-interest sites like newspapers and magazines where comments can be downright awful, as opposed to sites like Slashdot with a self-selected and somewhat homogeneous audience. It seems unlikely that using only blogs for responsive dialog with authors and peers could come close to matching the feedback and community feel of comments such as we see here. Is there a technical solution, or is this a biological problem imposed on the internet?
This seems to hold true for most broad-interest sites like newspapers and magazines where comments can be downright awful, as opposed to sites like Slashdot with a self-selected and somewhat homogeneous audience. It seems unlikely that using only blogs for responsive dialog with authors and peers could come close to matching the feedback and community feel of comments such as we see here. Is there a technical solution, or is this a biological problem imposed on the internet?
agree with "Jezebel?" above. please mod up.
I also find that the slashdot comments are often more useful than the actual article.
Global warming is faaaaake!
dickbutt.jpg
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Damn right. If they didn't want rape porn posted, they shouldn't have written those provocative articles. They were just asking for it.
many of the highly rated comments are really just wisecracks which might be funny, but don't add anything to the discussion.
Two comments on that.
The wise cracks tend to actually be moderated as "funny" by simply not including a funny moderation options a site would probably do a lot to discourage modding comments of that type up. A site could also easily offer user preferences for not including funny up mods when determining how to sort comments for display time.
A bit of levity might not directly contribute to the conversation by may encourage others to participate who otherwise would not have. IT may also inspire creative thinking in others leading to additional insight. Humor is something many people use to tackle issues they find challenging.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html