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Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

vice.com

71–80 of 233 posts

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#71

In my humble opinion perhaps websites might benefit simply from more sorting filters on comments. Reddit allows sorting by most upvoted and most controversial which is cool. However I wonder if sorting by the reading age of the comment for example might work. Perhaps creating a set of words which are inflammatory and sorting by most negative comments to most positive comments. Perhaps combining filters could be const…

The problem with the internet is it allows people to wall themselves off from information and people who contradict their view. Even if they're in need of said contradiction. What you're describing is part of the problem, not the solution.

I think that's a fair point. I've seen reddit change over the years into a place where people no longer debate in the comments section, they just find the thread they agree with and comment on that. It's part of why I'm looking for somewhere else.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#72
post #15
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The comments on the New York Times seem to be high quality.

They also expend significant resources in moderating it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/20/insider/approv... (a comically high amount of resources, IMHO; a good part of what their human editors do could be triaged through automated systems)

FWIW, a move towards automated assistance is what motivated that article in the first place: "The New York Times is partnering with Google Jigsaw to create a new moderation system that will help us review incoming comments based on decisions our moderators have made in the past. Our moderators will continue to protect these discussions, but once this new system is launched, we will have robot helpers."

I helped work on the interactive piece (though not the assisted comment moderation that they're rolling out).

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#73

Considering all the events that occurred in 2016 from the brexit to trump that came as huge surprises to the media, maybe media elites should be paying MORE attention to the comments.

This is a good point. The sentiment of "deplorables" is largely being removed and modeled-out from the mainstream internet/media and helps create a filter bubble. However, I don't think those comments give any value to the users of the site.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#75
I’ve wished that there was some kind of HTTP header I could have my UA send that told the server not to bother sending me the comments section, as I consider them to generally be a waste of resources. I even thought a little about how I’d go about formalizing it. After realizing that such a system would require an RFC, my brain broke from the irony.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#76
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vice is nowhere remotely close to journalistic professionalism. I'd argue they bait trolls.

Are you thinking of Vice from 15 years ago when it was just a magazine? Things have changed, you should look at what kind of reporting they are actually doing these days, it might surprise you (in a good way).

The article that appeared below the OP article was about an internet feud between Nikki minaj and Meek Mill. So you're right, I am surprised but not in a good way.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#77

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.

Considering how much of the media was shocked SHOCKED by Brexit, the election of Trump, Sarkozy's loss, the fall of Merkel, and the rise of Le Pen, maybe they should pay more attention to the comments..

Those were shocking events. Scientific polls, liquid prediction markets and experts, all predicted different outcomes. It would have been irresponsible to take different positions.

Either the tools we have to measure these things are inadequate, and must be improved. People simply changed their minds as the events drew near. Or we happened to hit the underdog outcomes (80% chance of Hillary is still 1 in 5 for Trump).

None gets solved by polling trolls.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#78

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.

Considering how much of the media was shocked SHOCKED by Brexit, the election of Trump, Sarkozy's loss, the fall of Merkel, and the rise of Le Pen, maybe they should pay more attention to the comments..

The media were not SHOCKED, they expressed shock in an attempt to get more attention/views.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#79
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you thinking of Vice from 15 years ago when it was just a magazine? Things have changed, you should look at what kind of reporting they are actually doing these days, it might surprise you (in a good way).

The article that appeared below the OP article was about an internet feud between Nikki minaj and Meek Mill. So you're right, I am surprised but not in a good way.

Meh, Vice covers a wide spectrum of topics, all aimed at youth..

Some is heavy, some is not..

Find a mainstream (non-topic-specialized) publication that doesn't do that, and I'll be surprised.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#80
post #32

Hopefully the biker bar analogy* is correct. Every year it feels more and more like the bikers are actually the majority . * https://chuqui.com/2015/07/the-death-of-reddit/

Interesting to look back on this. Reddit seems to be doing fine now - it's put the line in a clear and simple place, and while there are occasional paranoid grumblings that certain subreddits are getting away with brigading it's mostly working out. Whereas Twitter - which seemed to follow a line closer to the one being advocated there - is a disaster area.

No it hasn't. Why are anti-Obesity groups banned, but overtly racist groups with racist names allows? (Answer: Moderators are fat.)
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