To The Indianapolis Star: News Article Comments Suck
I don’t understand why newspapers such as the Indianapolis Star feel like they need to mimic blogs and have comments at the bottom of every news article on their web site. These comment sections serve no journalistic purpose and are full of stupid people who only understand problems in simple terms.
Today, the Star has an article about the shootings last night during the Black Expo. As of a short while ago, there were about 140 comments with people literally calling each other “whitey” and “blackie.” Seriously! I thought this was 2010! And then of course, you have the socialism versus capitalism arguments going back and forth. Blah! Blah! Blah! It’s nothing but drivel with generous sprinkles of bigotry and hatred.
News articles don’t need comments. Very rarely does a truly productive, worthwhile conversation happen on the Internet when the general public is allowed to anonymously participate in a forum. So why bother doing it? Stop worrying about imitating blogs and start innovating better ways to serve the community. That’s what will keep you in business.







