# Why are most news sources closing their comment sections? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 6, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358 "2016-01-06T21:10:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/61 "2016-01-08T16:44:41Z")
Well, legally there are complications involved with moderation. A website can be held liable for defamatory content posted by third parties if it actively moderates such content; if it functions as a simple messageboard it can’t. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/62 "2016-01-08T17:07:09Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I wish I could have voted both in the poll. On the Atlantic site comments can often show much more insight into the issue than in the article. But then they have mods for the jerks and sometimes the writers themselves will respond to comments. Depending on the volume of comments, I find the first couple of dozen to the first hundred comments are worth reading. Then the trolls come out in force. I find the discussion in the comments often adds depth to the article, so I prefer to have comments rather than not. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/63 "2016-01-08T17:31:50Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Obviously not directly but it may up page views to have a comments section which may up ad revenue. So you have to decide if a good (ie moderated) comments section is better than none or trollfest one. Because it is a hassle, I was listening to a radio program about the growth of outsource moderator companies. So instead of having staff do it they hire some guys who moderate multiple websites’ comment sections. Comment moderation is outsourced to countries like India or the Philipines often enough. \* “Some Fridays you feel like you need to spend two hours in the shower because it’s so disgusting,” says Bilous.\* Bloomberg — [**Comment Moderator**](http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/magazine/comment-moderator-the-dirtiest-job-on-the-internet-12012011.html) \*Each New Delhi, San José, or Manila worker has a grid of around 10 photos which he or she quickly flicks through – 8 straight hours of explicit images of bestiality, beheadings, child pornography, and hate speech which website users have flagged as inappropriate. Immediately after the initial diagnosis, the images speed to an American corporate office, where a considerably-higher paid moderator double-checks to ensure that it meets the company’s standards. \*Ex-Patt — [**The Perils of Outsourcing Comment Moderation**](https://expattmagazine.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/the-perils-of-outsourcing-content-moderation-a-universal-understanding-of-internet-decorum/) However, it is fairly well-known one can buy comments — or posts for a forum such as this — by the carload to boost traffic. Some owners may seek provocative foulness to generate fake controversy. [And of course, corporate entities purchase favourable reviews not only through direct corruption, as Microsoft did with laptops for bloggers, but with another Microsoft ploy: Astroturfing — paying for nice comments.] It would be amusing if one division of a publisher was purchasing ripe comments in bulk, whilst another was paying unfortunates to moderate them to bits. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/64 "2016-01-08T19:07:47Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > There is this thing on the internet called “trolling.” It involves people deliberately posting inflammatory or intentionally stupid statements in an attempt to get a rise out of people. Interesting. Learn something new everyday. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/65 "2016-01-08T22:09:07Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Comment sections are typically filled with moronic nonsense, regardless of partisan intent. Beyond that, it seems like ANY article or topic will garner some sort of partisan response. I mean, things like feel-good pieces about teachers of the year or some such, will have dipshits oozing up out of the drain to babble about how it’s a Democratic conspiracy to give the Teacher of the Year award to a school in the ghetto. Or if it’s a white teacher at a predominantly white school, we’ll get treated to how that teacher has it easy because they don’t face the same challenges as the ghetto school’s teacher. Probably 2/3 of the time, that partisanship comes with a thinly veiled stench of racism as well. I’m all for the removal of comments sections. I don’t see an issue with having email addresses for the authors on there, but comments sections don’t usually serve any useful purpose beyond giving hateful and stupid assholes a forum for their views. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/66 "2016-01-09T01:28:16Z")
Don’t forget all those 2nd hand testimonials by people who have a friend with a relative who makes $6,000 a week on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/67 "2016-01-09T06:01:45Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > The Atlantic does the same. They certainly do, but even with the moderation, many of the comment sections of Atlantic articles are not much better than sewage. A few of their writers don’t run comments on their pieces, James Fallows is one, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/68 "2016-01-09T13:34:33Z")
If it is a blog which is narrowcasted (such that only interested parties will partake, and not trolls and other lowlifes), then comment sections I’ve found can be very enlightening and engaging. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/69 "2016-01-09T13:59:16Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Considering the source is Breitbart, we need to first determine if the report is correct. Are progressive news sources closing down their comment sections? Is it part of a general trend or just one or two sites? Is the closure rate for progressive sites different from non-progressive sites? Only after these questions have been answered and we’ve determined if the phenomenon exists, do we need to seek an explanation for it. What did you come up with? ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/70 "2016-01-09T15:57:29Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Beyond that, it seems like ANY article or topic will garner some sort of partisan response. I mean, things like feel-good pieces about teachers of the year or some such, will have dipshits oozing up out of the drain to babble about how it’s a Democratic conspiracy to give the Teacher of the Year award to a school in the ghetto. Or if it’s a white teacher at a predominantly white school, we’ll get treated to how that teacher has it easy because they don’t face the same challenges as the ghetto school’s teacher. > > Probably 2/3 of the time, that partisanship comes with a thinly veiled stench of racism as well. > > I’m all for the removal of comments sections. I don’t see an issue with having email addresses for the authors on there, but comments sections don’t usually serve any useful purpose beyond giving hateful and stupid assholes a forum for their views. All of this. I stopped reading comments long ago (and was never interested in, say, YouTube or Yahoo) when I realized that even the most innocuous stories out there would devolve into non-sequitur partisan sniping and bigotry of whatever stripe. It’s the same reason here that my ignore function is well-worked… I have no use for anyone, conservative or liberal, who interjects that bullshit into places it doesn’t belong. I appreciate the head’s up that identifies them as morons, but beyond that, I ain’t got no time for such inanity. So, if this is true, I applaud the general decision. I see it as a good thing for the basest in humanity to not always have an easily accessible voice and think their blatherings should be confined to dark places on the interwebs, lest they attract more like-minded idiots to rise up from their mama’s basements. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/71 "2016-01-09T23:04:42Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > There are an enormous amount number of comment sections that overflow with hatred, idiocy, racism, bigotry, nastiness, vulgarity, pettiness, narcissism, spam, and other garbage. This is the norm. It’s true whether the website has a liberal or conservative leaning or any other. It’s true whether the commenters are liberal, conservative, or Star Wars fans. All are equally bad. > > There are a very few comment sections are polite, civil, mature, and intelligent. A very few. Generally specialty blogs devoted to a narrow topic with a relatively small audience. Many commenters also pointed out factual ``errors" and falsifications in articles. But factual correctness does not excuse Political Incorrectness. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/72 "2016-01-09T23:07:05Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, legally there are complications involved with moderation. A website can be held liable for defamatory content posted by third parties if it actively moderates such content; if it functions as a simple message board it can’t. Where can I find that information on difference between a comment section and a message board. All of the people who posted here who owe me $25K should be ashamed of themselves. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/73 "2016-01-09T23:08:33Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > “Some Fridays you feel like you need to spend two hours in the shower because it’s so disgusting,”\* With whom? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/74 "2016-01-10T00:10:46Z")
I’m guessing with someone not into bestiality or beheadings. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/75 "2016-01-11T14:20:32Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > Where can I find that information on difference between a comment section and a message board. > > All of the people who posted here who owe me $25K should be ashamed of themselves. The [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230_of_the_Communications_Decency_Act) for §230 of the CDA is a good place to start. It’s not a difference between a comment section and a message board, though; it’s the difference between a moderated comment section or message board and an unmoderated one. Moderation (depending on its nature) can make “interactive computer services” liable as “information content providers.” ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358/76 "2016-01-11T16:02:59Z")
I would have said both but as that’s not an option… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-most-news-sources-closing-their-comment-sections/742358.md?page=3)