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Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

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Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#181

Post by douche »

int_19h wrote: post #136
snowpanda wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Hacker News after all these years has managed to maintain a pretty high standard when it comes to comment quality It's easy to maintain quality when the majority of your visitors have the same political and social beliefs. Basic income, renewable energy, income inequality... It gets really old for people living outside of the Silicon Valley bubble.

Are you implying that NH is limiting its audience to politically agreeable, or that those who disagree self-censor themselves and move to other platforms? If the latter, it does invite the question of why. Is it impossible to disagree on basic income, renewable energy, income inequality etc without reducing your comment quality below the bar that is acceptable here?

> Is it impossible to disagree on basic income, renewable energy, income inequality etc without reducing your comment quality below the bar that is acceptable here?

If you care about your karma level, you have to be careful about it. There are some perfectly reasonable positions that attract downvotes from some quarters. At the end of the day, it's just internet points, though. Sometimes unpopular things need to be said, if for no other reason than to register the existence of dissenting opinions.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#182

Post by mzw_mzw »

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.

> If we consider VICE a legitimate news outlet

Well, there's your problem.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#183

Post by grzm »

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.

editorials in newspapers used to be a mode of public discourse.

Do you mean letters to the editor? If so, I agree that they do permit some public discourse. I'm sure papers also chose which letters to publish, in effect moderating the discussion.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#184

Post by SerLava »

>Besides, there are plenty of other ways for you to publicly discuss our work and the personal worth of our staff. We'll still be reading your thoughts on Twitter and Facebook,

This may be the real reason. Or at least a big reason.

I have seen some other sites push comments to social media in order to bolster themselves on those platforms.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#185

Post by jagermo »

swalsh wrote: post #60

Hacker News after all these years has managed to maintain a pretty high standard when it comes to comment quality (my comments excluded, of course, they are of much lower quality). A large part of that is it was started with a pretty small group that set the tone and quality, and it has always been very aggressive towards new commenters in the form of limiting down-votes, and chastising lower quality comments. That b…

| Hacker News after all these years has managed to maintain a pretty high standard when it comes to comment quality

Websites get the commenters they deserve. Leave trolls unchecked because they bring in clicks - become a haven for trolls.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#186

Post by jagermo »

zzalpha wrote: post #7
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.

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…

but you could get rid of that, couldn't you? Switch to "moderate first if user does not have a high enough reputation" for a while. Idiot commenters want their posts to be seen, they thrive on the chaos. Take that away from them and they will move on.

Yes, you need a few people willing to go through the filth, but you will get a better online presence out of it.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#187

Post by jagermo »

sbarre wrote: post #38
newswriter99 wrote: post #24

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).

Vice killed its professionalism for me when they posted the "We are with John McAfee now, suckers" piece without removing the GPS coordinates of the selfies. (https://www.wired.com/2012/12/oops-did-vice-just-give-away-j...)

In my opinion, Vice is nothing more than a clickbait machine that got somehow famous for being "edgy".

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#188

Post by zigzigzag »

Jordrok wrote: post #179
zigzigzag wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because the problem isn't really technical. Whilst Vice could probably improve the quality of their commenting by putting more effort into the software, the real problem is that they were receiving political opinions from a camp they didn't like much. The article doesn't really try to hide it: Without moderators or fancy algorithms, they are prone to anarchy Anarchy?! I thought anarchy involved Mad Max style gunf…

I'm not really a fan of removing comments sections entirely - proper moderation is possible, it just takes more time and manpower than most sites are willing to commit. I think you're being extremely disingenuous here though. Have you actually hung around any of the poorly moderated comment sections on major news sites? Most of them are filled with flaming piles of word vomit, not the kind of enlightened right wing p…

Yes, I've hung around the Guardian's comments site. The problem there is exactly as I describe it.

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#189

Post by sangnoir »

swalsh wrote: post #60

Hacker News after all these years has managed to maintain a pretty high standard when it comes to comment quality (my comments excluded, of course, they are of much lower quality). A large part of that is it was started with a pretty small group that set the tone and quality, and it has always been very aggressive towards new commenters in the form of limiting down-votes, and chastising lower quality comments. That b…

> Hacker News after all these years has managed to maintain a pretty high standard when it comes to comment quality

For the most part, especially on well trodden topics that regularly feature on HN (tech, science, &tc). Unfortunately most HNers have the same blind spots and are unable to spot low-quality comments on more esoteric/fringe subjects - especially if it confirms their bias. I've seen inaccurate screeds about 3rd world countries be voted to the top more times than I care to count. Sadly, after many years, I still can't think of a way to personally profit from from this knowledge-gap, maybe via some form of arbitrage?

Re: Getting Rid of Comments on Vice.com

#190

Post by Chris2048 »

AbrahamParangi wrote: post #39

I think many people have realized that the costs (filtering & moderation) vs. benefits (community engagement) of comment sections just don't make sense for most websites. I suspect that for comment sections to be good the users need to actually be invested in the 'forum' they're posting in. Without any skin in the game (reputation or fear of moderation) there is little incentive for most users to add value and the sy…

> the costs (filtering & moderation)

or, don't do this, and make seeing comments optional.

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