From a certain point of view you responding to me helps to support my view on comments having a value. An interaction in this comment section on this news item can help show social dialogue surrounding changes in how online-news operate.
I do not disagree that some (many, and sometimes all) comments are trash. This could include my own.
BTW its mostly gone now but newspaper editorial sections used to include “letters to the editors” which are essentially heavily-curated comments left by readers. This could include responses to recent articles, general current events, or possible gripes about a local thing.
The aspect of this that surprises me is its shortsightedness.
Not the one that involves getting rid of the talented humans and replacing them with AI slurry listicles; but the one that provides a readily visible example of how doing that can go impressively badly.
I’m not sure if I’m thinking too evil or not thinking enough evil; but were I in charge of replacing the fractious labor units with cost-optimized machine product I’d be extremely touchy about standards during the period after announcing the advent of the glorious future(with expendable fivver freelancers or temps or something, not the original staff, of course; don’t mistake the pragmatic part of the plan for decency). How else to ensure that there won’t be embarrassing fuckups for the skeptics to use as ammunition during the period where things being worse has not yet been sufficiently normalized?
Am I underestimating the power of lower standards? Did someone get sold a bill of goods by a bot salesman? Act of malicious compliance by someone who wants the ‘AI’ push to fail?
An interaction in this comment section on this news item
As I said, there ARE exceptions like Boing Boing, which are well moderated and inhabited by people willing to have respectful dialogue. But the vast majority of news comment sections are absolute dumpster fires, unlike this one.
“letters to the editors
Comment sections for most news sites are dog shit. They are only given the lightest moderation, and have zero redeeming value compared to a “letters to the editor” section, which is heavily curated. They are often taken over by paid shills and bots, pressing a narrative view that “the public” feels a certain way on a topic. No, I’m afraid most comment sections are filled with toxic commentary and the value is simply who can yell the loudest. Keep comments to either incredibly well moderated forums, or provide a forum away from the news articles people can log into and post about what they want to discuss. But there shouldn’t be a “comments” section attached to every news article on every site, it’s a waste of bandwidth and in most cases generates nothing of value to society.
Yeah, I have a “Never get off the boat” policy with those comments. To my eyes, it looks like the people with thoughtful and useful opinions are busy because their time is in demand. The confident, low-information crowd has time to burn. And that’s without considering deliberate muddying of waters, e.g. trolley farm output.
BB remains fun because of some very committed moderators and a community that appreciates what they have. (thanks mods!) Most places don’t have that, as we’ve all noticed.
The mods here are indeed to be thanked for their hard work. They’ve put me back in line once or twice, and I deserved it. But the real value here are the commentators, who always help me see new ways to think about topics and educate me where I’m deficient on a subject. I’ve literally written SF stories because of what I learned about myself through interactions here.
