The comment section

The First Comment Section Popped Up in the Early Days of the Internet, in 1998. Comments Really Took Off in 2007-2008. Inevitable Human Says Commenters Are a Small Pool of Hyper Engaged Users, Not a Reflection of Everybody

The comment section

The First Comment Section Popped Up in the Early Days of the Internet, in 1998. Comments Really Took Off in 2007-2008. Inevitable Human Says Commenters Are a Small Pool of Hyper Engaged Users, Not a Reflection of Everybody

In the Last Decade, Some News Companies (NPR, Reuters, Pop Sci) Axed the Comment Section From Their Sites -- The Issue? Their Sections Were Full of Trolls

But Other Sites Stuck With It -- The NYT Says It’s Good for Discourse, Even With the Flaws

Techdirt Says Long Live the Comment Section! It Connects the Readers, and Creates Valuable Conversations

Right, Says Wired. Comments Are the Best Part of the Internet! Hate Speech Is a Societal Issue, Don’t Blame Online Spaces

Another Pro Argument: They’re Useful to Internet Historians

This Blogger Is Strongly Anti -- Comments Encourage Stupidity and Drown Out the Opinions of Experts. Death to Comment Culture!

Engadget Has a Middle-of-the-Road Suggestion: Moderate, Don’t Eliminate. Internet Culture Is Toxic but It Can Be Fixed

And some news outlets are making changes -- Vox created comment managing software called “Coral”, to weed out toxicity. It’s been picked up by The Financial Times, Mother Jones, and The LA Times

Maybe We’re Fighting Over Nothing? Poynter Says That When Some Major News Orgs Killed the Comments, Most People Didn’t Even Notice

And maybe the comment section on social media is different? For example, The Atlantic is pro comment on Insta -- the photos can get really boring, but the comment section never disappoints

And Mashable says it’s the same on TikTok -- the comments are the most important part of the platform, the future of social media is the comment section!