# Are Comments Sections Always Stupid **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 23, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154 "2012-07-23T18:59:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/1 "2012-07-23T18:59:50Z")
Are comments sections for news stories and so on generally dominated by ideologues who repeat talking points? Using as an example the NYT article on the One Child Policy: [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/world/asia/pressure-to-repeal-chinas-one-child-law-is-growing.html?\_r=1&pagewanted=all#comments](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/world/asia/pressure-to-repeal-chinas-one-child-law-is-growing.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all#comments) And I’ve picked the most recommanded quotes > [@](#): > > This is an irresponsible article. You cite no serious studies or population experts, relying only on sensational anecdote. Shamful, really given the consequences for the world if China’s population spins out of control again. > > My take is that millions…yes millions… of lives have beensaved or improved in China by population stability. We should admire China bravely tackling a problem that most Westerners ignore - the proverbial elephant in the room. > [@](#): > > As a nuanced thinking progressive New Yorker, I’ve come to realize that the Chinese may really be on the right path. Too many people, too much consumption, too much carbon. As the world gets poorer, some of our individualistic behaviors will have to be ceded back to the commons. > [@](#): > > We should not bash China’s policy. We should adopt it immediately and do everything we can to see that it is adopted globally. > > Pretty much our only remaining hope. > [@](#): > > Abortion may not be a woman’s preferred choice, but it’s always the best choice for the earth. We may disagree with the Chinese government’s strongarm tactics, but if we’re going to save this planet we must take aggressive action to reduce the population. I applaud the Chinese government for tackling the greatest threat to humanity - and for standing firm in the light of international condemnation. > [@](#): > > Human population on Earth as of July 23, 2012: 7 billion, 28 million +. Tomorrow it will be higher. The next day higher still. And so on and so on and so on. > > It’s not that we make life miserable and soon impossible for ourselves it’s that we are making all other life on earth miserable and for species after species soon, impossible. > > We don’t have the right and I don’t give a fig what your superstitions and your traditions and your religious books and your hormones tell you. We are the problem and the Earth will adjust accordingly. And it ain’t gonna be pretty. And there ain’t gonna be some angel coming down to tell you this was some plan and away you go. It’s just gonna be natural and many of us will be gone . . . the hard way. > > Harsh? We’ve been sowing these seeds for a while. It’s almost harvest time. These quotes generally don’t dwell on the evil of forced abortions or even the pluses or minuses of a one child policy but on outdated “Population Bomb” theories from the '70s according to which India should be starving to death right now and even we should have food rationed. Also ignorant is the fact that people applaud the Chinese while attacking the “West” for not doing anything even though Europe and America (except for Hispanics who probably will follow suit soon enough) are rapidly _not having children_. The irony is that these comments are moderated, yet my comments pointing out the inaccuracies in many of these comments have not been posted. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/2 "2012-07-23T23:38:32Z")
Yes. In fact, the ones you quoted are practically genius-level compared to the some I’ve read on [CNN.com](http://CNN.com), the Wall Street Journal website, and (_weary sigh_) Scientific American. Basically, any popular website with a comments section that is open for anyone to post to is going to be full of complete morons. (There will be non-morons as well, but you have to sift a lot of chaff to find the wheat.) ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/3 "2012-07-24T00:00:30Z")
Yeah, pretty much. I mostly only read comment sections to get a laugh at how dumb people are. They’re not useful for much else. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/4 "2012-07-24T00:02:31Z")
As always, “I disagree with you” is NOT the same as “you are stupid”. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/5 "2012-07-24T00:31:47Z")
Yahoo! comments have to be near the worst. Any mo-ron can post there. I try not to read them because I start to question my faith in humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/6 "2012-07-24T00:41:33Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Yahoo! comments have to be near the worst. I tend to agree. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/7 "2012-07-24T01:18:23Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > Basically, any popular website with a comments section that is open for anyone to post to is going to be full of complete morons. I agree, and awhile back I [posted a thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=655994) that suggested that commenting, even on intelligent blogs, might be passé for that very reason - and for others. I think it’s very possible that people today would rather just talk online with a pre-selected circle of friends than risk encountering divergent views or taking part in a conversation that might really challenge or enlighten. Perhaps inevitably, the thread I started got very few comments. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/8 "2012-07-24T01:21:05Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > . . . and (_weary sigh_) Scientific American. . . . I didn’t even know SA had a comments board…but, doggone, I would have imagined that it would be a model of sense, literacy, and moderation. Damn shame; who can you trust these days? ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/9 "2012-07-24T01:30:53Z")
The NYT comments section is a bastion of knowledge compared to the comments sections on local newspaper’s websites. I’m not saying that because I like the NYT (I do, but that’s beside the point), the comments are indeed dumb, narrow-minded, and alarmist. But local news sites are just awful, downright shameful places that will make you weep for humanity. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/10 "2012-07-24T02:41:41Z")
There are a few places where comments pages are OK, mostly ones that are heavily moderated. John Scalzi’s and Fred Clark’s blogs come to mind. Still, I don’t think that you can expect people who are not writing more-or-less professionally to write very well on throwaway comments. And for the love of God, don’t look at Youtube comments. That’s the bottom of the barrel. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/11 "2012-07-24T04:04:12Z")
Believe it or not, I post on an entertainment app that has a comment section and, although there’s the occasional troll and troglodyte opinion, it’s mostly either harmless fluff or a couple of people who are intelligent, well-reasoned and logical. I was happily surprised and I now consider it to be my second home away from the Dope. Amazingly, very fulfilling discussions break out on there almost every day. I like it and would highly recommend it to others. It’s certainly worth any small disturbances to keep up the good fight. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/12 "2012-07-24T12:23:14Z")
Unless they’re moderated, comments sections are always stupid. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/13 "2012-07-24T12:27:15Z")
First!!1! ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/14 "2012-07-24T12:33:33Z")
Radical Moslems are getting their tentacles into our Comments Sections. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/15 "2012-07-24T13:00:45Z")
The BBC’s Have Your Say website was so known for idiotic and incoherent contributions that someone actually invented a [BBC HYS Twat-o-Tron](http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/the-twat-o-tron/) which produces posts largely indistinguishable from the real thing, as I can attest. In fact, some of the ToT responses people have posted on the BBC site have been designated “Most Popular”. It’s like Poe’s Law meets a Turing test. Here are two computer-generated quotes and two actual HYS submissions from real people, for your amusement. Which are which is left as an exercise for the reader. > [@](#): > > This is a joke ……right ? Only because anyone wanting there own culture to be saved is deemed “racist” by “inteligent” left wingers ? . Only in this dustbin they call the UK. The whole world is entitled to their own culture … but not Britain . A country decimated by an experiment gone horribly wrong by idiots and voted for by idiots and a lesson to others . Thats why we are laughed at . It is now a crime to even say this is wrong ! . Thats how far it has got . > > david, england > [@](#): > > Another example of ripoff Britain!, in my opinion ethnics are helping their scottish comrades because muslims are running the show, Mark my words put them in loony bin, Oh wait, but what about their huan rights’!?? > > Tired Of PC loonies, glos, United Kingdom > [@](#): > > THIS TIRED OLD QUESTION AGAIN. ALL RIGHT-THINKING PEOPLE KNOW THAT PATHETIC LIBERAL TREE HUGGERS ARE GIVING WAY TO MULTICULTURALISM BECAUSE THEY ARE TRYING TO DESTROY US. ERAD MY LIPS: BRING BACK HANGING. > > Tony Bliar, Glasgow > [@](#): > > just inmagin if we go through a national crisis like japan or food shortages or some pandemic just like nostradamus predicted humans will eat humans if anyone disagree just look at the above footage again we are becoming animals and animals becoming more civilised cant even think what it would be like if the goverment collapsed. > > monjur ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/16 "2012-07-24T13:08:35Z")
[QUOTE=snowthx] Yahoo! comments have to be near the worst. Any mo-ron can post there. I try not to read them because I start to question my faith in humanity. [/QUOTE] Yahoo is a breath of fresh air compared to Free Republic. Reading those comments makes me feel like I’m in a mental straightjacket and trying to wiggle my way free. Here are some fun random examples: [New York trans fat ban has cut consumption, study finds](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2910028/posts) > [@](#): > > To: C210N > More agenda driven junk science controlling what you eat. What if they are wrong and you need trans fat in your diet? > > Pray for America [Gay Nebraska woman tied up, mutilated in hate-crime assault, police say](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2910026/posts) > [@](#): > > To: scottjewell > if a queer gets asphyxiated during some kinky game involving whips, chains, chocolate syrup and Drano, they’d probably call it a “hate crime”. > To: CAluvdubya > I agree with all these who smell HOAX. Knee jerk response for me was to wonder what gay spat was behind this. It seems well documented that same sex relationships are more prone to spouse abuse than their heterosexual opposites.I so smell HOAX in this yellow journalism. > > To: silverleaf > Yep, these sorts of bizarro attacks tend to be more symptomatic of an emotional outburst one might see in an outraged lover than any random “hate” crime. Why would anyone break in one her to do her violence . . . and not rape her as well. > > This one stinks to high heaven. First thought was, “BS!” The sad thing is, I didn’t even read the comments before linking that article because I knew it was going full-on stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/17 "2012-07-24T13:10:44Z")
…and then there are the comments on YouTube… ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/18 "2012-07-24T13:17:36Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > As always, “I disagree with you” is NOT the same as “you are stupid”. I still notice people agreeing with me in profoundly stupid ways, though. I’m left-wing in general, but I can still tell the difference between, “I feel that the social safety net is essential to ensure the country’s poor are not abandoned and give them the opportunity for social mobility,” and, “CAMERON IS SELLING OUR POOR FOR MEAT - KILL THE RICH!!1!” Guess which end of the spectrum is better represented. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/19 "2012-07-24T13:26:07Z")
I always think when I find myself reading a comments section that it is God’s way of telling you to take a break from the internet. And what is it with nutty posters and their love of really bad puns? Like “EUSSR” (meaning the European Union), “New Lie-bore” (Labour), and “Tony Bliar”? ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154/20 "2012-07-24T14:40:47Z")
In my experience, yes. Especially Yahoo. My theory is those people don’t know how to visit other websites and spew garbage there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comments-sections-always-stupid/629154.md?page=2)