# Don't look at the comments! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 28, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090 "2012-03-28T22:25:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/21 "2012-03-29T14:56:54Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > One depressing thing about the internet is that it seems to have given everyone the impression that their opinion is just as valid as anyone else’s. So they can announce their stupid bullshit as if nobody’s ever heard it before and honestly believe that they are contributing to the conversation. That’s due to the people who are creating content, with their emphasis on social media. “We have to get The People involved!” Oh, no, good heavens, please, don’t. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/22 "2012-03-29T19:16:47Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > One depressing thing about the internet is that it seems to have given everyone the impression that their opinion is just as valid as anyone else’s. So they can announce their stupid bullshit as if nobody’s ever heard it before and honestly believe that they are contributing to the conversation. If it helps, I’m under no illusions that my stupid bullshit is of any value to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/23 "2012-03-29T19:28:27Z")
I like your stupid bullshit, but nobody asked my opinion, so I’m not going to bother posting. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/24 "2012-03-29T19:33:50Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Just based on the pure volume, there have to be tens of thousands of people who spend all of their free time finding places on the internet to shout this sort of stuff. I’m sure they’re the ones passing along the gigantic network of right wing bullshit glurge e-mails too. I think it was the BBC that had a story where they tracked down a troll on Facebook and confronted him at a bus stop about why he so actively posted hate-filled messages on stories posted there. He was really indignant about it. He was all like “It’s a free country, isn’t it? Is it against the law?” Which is true, but geez, do you really have nothing better to do? Is this your only outlet? ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/25 "2012-03-29T19:37:51Z")
The Toronto Sun comments are a cesspool. The trollery is astronomical. At least I hope they’re trolls and people who are that stupid/unintelligent/illiterate/ignorant don’t actually walk among us… ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/26 "2012-03-29T19:38:02Z")
I’ve come to realize that any site that gets a huge number of comments is virtually impossible to moderate, unless the users are given the ability to police it through downvotes, so there’s no reason to bother with the comments at all. The comments sections of blogs can really add value to the content, but only if they’re willing to moderate. There’s really no excuse not to, even though it might be a pain to do, because not doing it prevents good discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/27 "2012-03-29T19:48:35Z")
Heh, at my work they recently disabled the ability to comment on the “Picture of the Day” on our intranet. I guess there were one or two pictures where the comments decended into flame wars. Umm . . . did the trolls somehow not know it put your name right there and did they somehow forget this was _at work_??? People can be idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/28 "2012-03-29T20:03:32Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > That’s because Obama deletes all of the sane comments because he’s a Muslim Kenyan. Well, yes, but he’s also writing most of the insane comments because he’s a Muslim Kenyan, AND a socialist communist terrorist. Or is that redundant? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/29 "2012-03-29T20:35:37Z")
I remember reading one article that had something to do with gay rights. One guy said something to the effect of: “Obummer is a muslim and he needs to quit spreading his pro gay agenda.” Um, yeah, because if there is anything Muslims are known for, it’s their acceptance of gay people. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/30 "2012-03-29T20:53:48Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I remember reading one article that had something to do with gay rights. > > One guy said something to the effect of: “Obummer is a muslim and he needs to quit spreading his pro gay agenda.” > > Um, yeah, because if there is anything Muslims are known for, it’s their acceptance of gay people. :rolleyes: THAT’S why he moved to America (probably the same day he was born). He knew that America is the only place in the world where gay Muslims would be tolerated. And it’s time to stop allowing America to be used as a haven for gay Muslim Kenyans socialist terrorist communists! Did I miss any -ists? ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/31 "2012-03-29T21:13:20Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > And it’s time to stop allowing America to be used as a haven for gay Muslim Kenyans socialist terrorist communists! Did I miss any -ists? Gay Muslim Kenyan socialist \*\*FASCIST \*\*terrorist communists. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/32 "2012-03-29T21:15:33Z")
Thanks, it didn’t quite feel complete. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/33 "2012-03-29T21:42:01Z")
Needs just a _tad_ more: Gay Christian Atheist Muslim Kenyan Socialist Fascist terrorist communists. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/34 "2012-03-29T21:59:32Z")
One of the recent inane comments I’ve read was a laundry list of 50 reasons why Obama terrifies the poster. Somewhere in the middle :rolleyes: was: “you’ve never run a company, and do not know what it’s like to meet a payroll.” This started me wondering (this could probably be a GQ question, but what the hell): how many presidents actually meet this criteria for non-scariness? GW Bush ran several companies…into the ground. Truman had a haberdashery that went bankrupt. Most presidents have been lawyers. So…Hoover? He was an engineer, did he run his own company? (immediately after this item on the list was one about never having been in the military. St Ronald the Reagan would have 2 strikes against him using this criteria.) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/35 "2012-03-29T22:13:08Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > …St Ronald the Reagan would have 2 strikes against him using this criteria.) Even worse. Reagan was president of a… Union!!! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/36 "2012-03-29T23:41:09Z")
> [@SmithCommaJohn](#): > > The comments on Yahoo News stories are particularly horrifying. > > Any story about a gay person, or gay rights, will have thousands of comments containing the most hateful vitriol you can think of. > > Any story about Obama will have comments openly calling for his assassination, along with plenty of overt racism. > > It’s an absolute cesspool. I wonder why Yahoo even bothers to have such a feature. Or maybe it likes hosting hundreds of thousands of pages of hate speech on its servers. This sort of thing is why I have a [SMITE key](http://waxy.org/random/images/farside.gif) on my computer’s keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/37 "2012-03-29T23:45:44Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > One depressing thing about the internet is that it seems to have given everyone the impression that their opinion is just as valid as anyone else’s. So they can announce their stupid bullshit as if nobody’s ever heard it before and honestly believe that they are contributing to the conversation. “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” ― Isaac Asimov ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/38 "2012-03-30T16:30:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Gay Christian Atheist Muslim Kenyan Socialist Fascist terrorist communists. He’s a Keynsian?! Socialist Communist and African I could just about deal with, but he actually grew up in Keynesland? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/39 "2012-03-30T23:31:51Z")
My department just released a giant report to the public–largely written and edited by yours truly. The next day, the local newspapers wrote up the gist of it, highlighting the salient points. I couldn’t help it. I had to scroll down and read the comments. Surprisingly, some of them were positive. But most were horrible. One of them quoted my own words and said something like, “Lazy government bastards…” Even though I’m used to getting feedback from my posts here, those comments take electronic crazy to a whole new level. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090/40 "2012-03-31T00:34:37Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > My department just released a giant report to the public–largely written and edited by yours truly. The next day, the local newspapers wrote up the gist of it, highlighting the salient points. > > I couldn’t help it. I had to scroll down and read the comments. Surprisingly, some of them were positive. But most were horrible. One of them quoted my own words and said something like, “Lazy government bastards…” > > Even though I’m used to getting feedback from my posts here, those comments take electronic crazy to a whole new level. That’s one reason I’m glad I don’t work for the Lawrence Livermore Lab anymore. While I have a Ph.D. in physics, somebody who probably never took a class in science in his life would feel free to tell me I was wasting the taxpayers money simply because I worked for the federal goverment. Regardless of what I actually did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-look-at-the-comments/617090.md?page=3)