Wow!As of today, the website for Popular Science will no longer have a comments section.
Read their announcement here for reasons behind the change.
The decision is backed, naturally, by some good social science, but those reasons do say a lot about... well, I have to say it... about how we argue.
It comes down to trolling, spam bots, and politically motivated commenters who seek to undermine scientific consensus.
Suzanne LaBarre, who wrote the announcement, presents multiple studies that demonstrate how "even a fractious minority wields enough power to skew a reader's perception of a story, recent research suggests."
I know I get fired up when I get sucked into a volatile comments section. I can see those results in my own online activity.
Still, a major website pulling user interaction is no small thing.
What do you think?
1 comment:
Downgraded from Web 2.0 to Web !.0. No comments until the cybermasses can act like grownups. Don't hold your breath.
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