A comment on comments
Current World News Comments (0)
 In theory, [online comment boards are] a great thing. We’re giving the people a voice! But the reality is that commenting either attracts loathsome people or somehow causes ordinary people to express themselves in a way that is loathsome…The horribleness of commenters isn’t really a mystery: Internet anonymity is disinhibiting, and people are basically mean anyway. Nor is it a mystery why the people who run websites put up with commenters: the economic model for Internet content is based on advertising, which means it’s based on traffic volume, and comments mean traffic. They’re part of the things that make online publishing work…. It’s just hard to tell whether they’re ruining the Web faster than they can save it….Lev Grossman, Time.com
admin @ November 23, 2008