Farewell to online comments sections?
The debate on the necessity of comments sections underneath online news articles is brewing, and digital journalism professionals are weighing in on whether or not online news websites should regularly moderate their comments or if it's time to completely get rid of them altogether.
Prior to Reuters.com's November 7 decision to adapt to a "No Comments Policy" on their digital news articles in order to allow for open dialogue on social media platforms, Pew Research Center scientists found that 22 percent of online harassment occurs in comments sections and 66 percent occurs on social media.
Most news websites already offer a strict “Registered Users Only” policy in their online comments sections, in which users have to sign-in through their social media accounts before they are able to comment. The majority have also done away with allowing anonymity underneath their online stories to put a face to the sometimes offensive comments, but what is the next step?
Jim Brady, founder and CEO of Stomping Ground, Inc., “a mobile-focused local news startup that owns and operates the BillyPenn.com”, and Chris Krewson, editor of the BillyPenn.com, believe that news sites may be headed into a "post-comments period”, as stated in the introduction of their newly-launched website, where they have decided to exclude user-comments for now.
According to Krewson in a phone interview this past Monday, comments sections were developed to “make the article better” and were originally similar to “mini-letters to the editor”. Now, he said, they have turned into “a kind of haven for lowest-common-denominator discussion” and “hate-speech”.
“We’re very interested in fostering discussion and very interested in building communities, but I don’t think that comments are a valid way to do that anymore and I don’t think we’re alone in that outlook,” said Krewson.
In order to foster a venue where “informed and intelligent” conversation can take place, BillyPenn.com is currently planning on developing a paid membership-based online news community with a discussion area, possible access to in-person events and even merchandise, according to Krewson.
Krewson said Reddit.com has “figured out the fact that community building and maintenance is just as important as the actual content” and is hopeful that higher-quality discussions and debates similar to reddit’s community-style forums and threads can start taking place on BillyPenn.com in early 2015.
“One of our stories last week made Philly Reddit. There were more than 50 comments on that story, all of which were incredibly high-quality, and that’s because the Reddit community is aimed around the community, therefore those people are interested in having a discussion amongst themselves and they often come back.”
Writer and Ethicist Tauriq Moosa, shares a similar view on comments sections as Brady and Krewson. In his Sept. 12 article, “Comments sections are poison: handle with care or remove them” on TheGuardian.com, he said that online comments sections should be shut off altogether and that he normally takes a "don't read the comments approach".
Meanwhile, Matthew Ingram, senior writer at the Gigaom.com said that reader discussions on social media platforms isn't a justification to totally get rid of comments in his Nov. 11 article, “Ending reader comments is a mistake, even if you are Reuters”.
Wendy Warren, NBCWashington.com editorial manager, digital, offers a more localized news perspective to the “post-comments period” debate.Warren said in a phone interview last Friday that NBCWashington.com uses the Facebook Social Plugin comments system, in which users must login thru their Facebook accounts in order to leave comments under news articles.
According to Warren, the use of the plugin helps curb offensive comments under the news stations online articles, but doesn’t totally eliminate them, leading the NBCWashington.com Digital Team to moderate the comments “on a relatively regular basis” after they are posted.
“Facebook comments encourage the use of real names and that certainly makes the comments often of better quality, but there are still people who are going to post offensive things under their own name,” said Warren.
Offensive comments can be hidden from the general public using the plugin and users can be banned from commenting, but NBCWashington.com does not plan on eliminating comments anytime soon, Warren said.
“We enjoy interacting with our viewers in a professional way. So, I can’t really predict the future, but I can say we think it’s important to be in a productive, positive conversation with our viewers,” said Warren.
Krewson said that he can't speak to what other organizations may do with their online comments sections but he hopes that a tilt towards better dialogue is on its way and "however we get there is okay" with him.
