Commentary on Comments

There has been a rash of commentary about comments. Once the very basis of the internet then the web - an exchange of ideas - open to readers on newspaper comment sections, these places where people were expected to have interesting, stimulating discussion and disagreement have become disagreeable places.

Here is one comment from the New York Times by Jamilah Lemieux is the senior editor at Ebony magazine under the title Get Rid of Comment Sections (April 2016)

"As most of my writing deals with subjects of race, gender and sexuality, there is a large built-in base ready to attack. I thank them for giving our site (which they claim to hate) daily web clicks, but I will not reward them with engagement. Once a fantastic space for a meeting of minds scattered across the globe, comment sections have become rest havens for racists, sexists and homophobes.

"Unfortunately, this behavior isn’t limited to sites that deal with polarizing subjects like “Why Black People Have the Right to Exist” or “Women: Humans, Too!” Even beauty and mommy blogs and movie review websites are littered with the scourge of the earth, desperately seeking attention."

Joel Stein in Time magazine wrote in the article How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet (April 2016)

"Internet trolls have a manifesto of sorts, which states they are doing it for the “lulz,” or laughs. What trolls do for the lulz ranges from clever pranks to harassment to violent threats. There’s also doxxing–publishing personal data, such as Social Security numbers and bank accounts–and swatting, calling in an emergency to a victim’s house so the SWAT team busts in. When victims do not experience lulz, trolls tell them they have no sense of humor. Trolls are turning social media and comment boards into a giant locker room in a teen movie, with towel-snapping racial epithets and misogyny."

One example worth reading more about is covered by By Caitlin Dewey in the WaPo in an article This horrifying and newly trendy online-harassment tactic is ruining careers  
Again April 2016.

"The latest high-profile victim is Alison Rapp, formerly a spokesperson for Nintendo of America. Rapp has been in the crosshairs of an online mob since fall, when Nintendo changed several female characters in American versions of its games to make them less sexual. Critics wrongly assumed that Rapp, an outspoken feminist, was involved, and launched a very public investigation into her personal life. In between deconstructing her Amazon wishlist, surfacing anonymous social accounts and circulating copies of her undergraduate thesis, the self-styled investigators also found evidence that Rapp was working a mysterious second job"

Dewey also wrote In the battle of Internet mobs vs. the law, the Internet mobs have won for WaPo. Another excellent example.