Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com • Hacker News Board

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#41

Post by volkk » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:33 PM UTC

frozenport wrote: post #9

Comments are one of the only time effective ways to challenge news stories. Indeed editorials in newspapers used to be a mode of public discourse. If we consider VICE a legitimate news outlet, then this a sad day.

There's a difference between reasonable public discourse and incessant trolls spamming, which is what 95% of all vice comments was. Any type of actual argument or discussion were drowned out by a multitude of "ugh another trash article by shitty vice" which doesn't add anything to the discussion whatsoever.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#42

Post by fnovd » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:33 PM UTC

aibottle wrote: post #22

When I see comment sections, on YouTube or elsewhere, disabled it makes me really sad because in my opinion people should have the ability to share their opinion on stuff. The argument that those comments turn ugly is really nonsense (to me). If you don't like a comment just don't bother reading it again, just forget about it. However when a youtube video on 10 ways to keep me from being productive" has its comments…

>When I see comment sections, on YouTube or elsewhere, disabled it makes me really sad because in my opinion people should have the ability to share their opinion on stuff. The argument that those comments turn ugly is really nonsense (to me). If you don't like a comment just don't bother reading it again, just forget about it.

The argument that disabling comments is censorship is really nonsense (to me). If you don't like the way a website works, just don't bother visiting it again, just forget about it.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#43

Post by 234dd57d2c8db » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:33 PM UTC

kevinburke wrote: post #29

colordrops wrote: post #16

Many sites have been closing their comments section. It seems to me that the purpose is to further constrict dissent and control the message. Rather than finding a technical solution or one that involves moderation, these sites just shut the community out and become a broadcast medium once again. A notable removal of a comments section was NPR's shutdown right around the time of the Democratic National Convention. Th…

> It seems to me that the purpose is to further constrict dissent and control the message. Insofar as "control the message" means "we are tired of anonymous people in our comments section doxxing our authors and other people, and vile, racist attacks on our authors and groups of people", then yes, this is an attempt to "control the message." > Since NPR clearly had a pro-Hillary agenda, the comments section had to go…

If you want to put your head in the sand, more power to you. Might benefit you though to look at the whole picture and really try to observe what's happening though.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#44

Post by darkengine » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:33 PM UTC

mratzloff wrote: post #31

colordrops wrote: post #16

Many sites have been closing their comments section. It seems to me that the purpose is to further constrict dissent and control the message. Rather than finding a technical solution or one that involves moderation, these sites just shut the community out and become a broadcast medium once again. A notable removal of a comments section was NPR's shutdown right around the time of the Democratic National Convention. Th…

In my opinion, and I would venture the opinion of most of these organizations shutting down their comment sections, the comments being posted add nothing to the discussion and have to be monitored for abuse. That's apparent on the majority of Facebook, in my experience: children arguing and calling names. There is no positive. You want to dissent? An Internet comment is about the least effective way to do it.

I've listened to and read NPR for many years, and I've perceived (perhaps falsely as perception is not infallible) an increase in the amount of stories that I found to be questionable in terms of neutrality. In my observation, the comments section in many of these stories, on NPR and on other sites, had been pretty good about calling out slanted stories and offered an alternative viewpoint. Granted, the signal-to-noise ratio on purely factual stories was pretty poor, but I think the value of a comments section really came out when an article that was more about narrative than about reporting slipped through.

Again, in my observation, it seems like more news outlets are cutting their comments sections as the incidence of the comments calling out poor reporting increases.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#45

Post by msie » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:33 PM UTC

aibottle wrote: post #22

When I see comment sections, on YouTube or elsewhere, disabled it makes me really sad because in my opinion people should have the ability to share their opinion on stuff. The argument that those comments turn ugly is really nonsense (to me). If you don't like a comment just don't bother reading it again, just forget about it. However when a youtube video on 10 ways to keep me from being productive" has its comments…

I disagree with your opinion and I think you are an idiot! How do you feel now? ;-)

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#46

Post by djtriptych » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:33 PM UTC

newswriter99 wrote: post #11

Considering Vice is run by upper-class WASPs who write as if they grew up underprivileged, it shouldn't be a surprise that most of its readers (actually working-class types) habitually call them out on their flawed, bias-filled stance. I'm not trying to be contrarian here. The biggest issue with VICE is that it pretends to be alternative the same way Lady GaGa pretends to be alternative.

So, who's allowed to be 'alternative'?

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#47

Post by creaghpatr » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:33 PM UTC

Part of the problem is that Vice promotes their posts all over facebook to (I presume) a bipartisan demographic based on target age range.

Because these are 'sponsored posts' not ads, people who do not agree with Vice's often highly partisan slant are constantly served their relatively provocative headlines with a really easy opportunity to leave a comment (both on fb and by clicking the link and heading to the comments section).

edit: changed 'broad demographic' to 'bipartisan demographic'

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#48

Post by stan_rogers » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:33 PM UTC

matart wrote: post #20

zzalpha wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But equally there might be a problem with what you're writing if you're attracting trolls. I very much disagree with that. Let's just take the CBC as an example. It's an excellent news organization that writes top notch journalism. And for any topic even remotely controversial (e.g., anything related to the indigenous population in Canada), they've had to disable the comment section because it's such a godawful cessp…

CBC comments show you how horrible some people can be. It makes me think that we leave discussion to the discussions sites. Reddit, HN, etc. and just let the news tell the news.

I've used the "block element" feature of uBlock Origin to completely remove the comments from CBC.ca. Frankly, the possibility that I may miss the one insightful comment posted every twenty thousand or so (before it's pushed into "show more" territory) doesn't seem like much of a loss.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#49

Post by scythe » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:33 PM UTC

I wish it didn't fall on me to point this out, but bigotry is a political position, and trolling is a personality flaw.

Honestly, I've never read VICE comments. But if it follows the pattern I've been seeing elsewhere on the Internet, when VICE's comment section was a liberal trollfest, it was okay, but when the conservatives started winning, it had to be shut down. Then of course the editors blame trolling, which was always pervasive.

The problem is that we, the elite; we, the establishment; we, the intelligentsia, have got to maintain credibility with people who dislike us. What we haven't got available to us that the Silvio Berlusconi's of the world can use is clientelism, the ability to make people like you by offering them things you can't actually give them. I can't tell you how many times I've criticized liberals who respond "But conservatives [...]!".

We're supposed to be better than them. That's the whole point.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#50

Post by sethish » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:34 PM UTC

Fr0ntBack wrote: post #2

I think if you're getting mostly garbage comments, it should give you pause for thought. Yes, the format of the internet doesn't encourage thoughtful, polite comments. But equally there might be a problem with what you're writing if you're attracting trolls. This is certainly true of Vice.

Uh, no? What about gamergate?