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0 pointszigzigzag9y ago0 comments

No, because the problem isn't really technical. Whilst Vice could probably improve the quality of their commenting by putting more effort into the software, the real problem is that they were receiving political opinions from a camp they didn't like much.

The article doesn't really try to hide it:

Without moderators or fancy algorithms, they are prone to anarchy

Anarchy?! I thought anarchy involved Mad Max style gunfights and burning oil barrels. What does "anarchy" mean in the context of a bunch of words on a web page? Oh, right, uncontrolled and uncensored discussion where people can say what they think.

Too often they devolve into racist, misogynistic maelstroms where the loudest, most offensive, and stupidest opinions get pushed to the top

So they don't like their comments (whereas they presumably did before) because over time the comments have become "stupid", "offensive" and - of course - racist/misogynistic/hate speech/bigoted.

I'm willing to bet that many of the comments that enraged them the most weren't particularly stupid or even racist, but rather belonged to a part of the political spectrum that Vice's writers wished they could make go away for real. If there's one thing 2016 shows it's the unlimited capacity for people to paint political views that they don't share of any kind, regardless of reasonableness or validity, as "racist" or "bigoted".

0 comments

darpa_escapee9y ago

> I'm willing to bet that many of the comments that enraged them the most weren't particularly stupid or even racist, but rather belonged to a part of the political spectrum that Vice's writers wished they could make go away for real. If there's one thing 2016 shows it's the unlimited capacity for people to paint political views that they don't share of any kind, regardless of reasonableness or validity, as "racist" or "bigoted".

Comments with relatively unpopular political opinions on the site breeds discussion and views.

Comments that are literally "kill all ___" don't, scare advertisers and put your brand at risk.

Most of those comments fall in the latter camp. Look at any comments section. There's a thread on my local paper's site right now about a bicycle theft: "This n* needs to get special treatment in the big house. Confiscate the home and demo it eventually they'll turn ____town into one big lot and then can start a rebuilding in the area."

Jordrok9y ago

I'm not really a fan of removing comments sections entirely - proper moderation is possible, it just takes more time and manpower than most sites are willing to commit.

I think you're being extremely disingenuous here though. Have you actually hung around any of the poorly moderated comment sections on major news sites? Most of them are filled with flaming piles of word vomit, not the kind of enlightened right wing perspectives you claim are being censored.

zigzigzagOP9y ago

Yes, I've hung around the Guardian's comments site. The problem there is exactly as I describe it.

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