# Why is the procedure for commenting on Cecil's columns so incredibly unfriendly?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [July 18, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652 "2012-07-18T19:57:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/1 "2012-07-18T19:57:36Z")
Can we not automate the part where you have to start a new thread, copy paste the title, and then provide a link to the article in question? Especially because when you realise you have to do all this, you first have to hit the back button on your browser a few times, then open the “Comment on” link in a new tab, and _then_ carry out this procedure. And of course, non members have to sign up first. But lets say we’re discussing only members here.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/2 "2012-07-18T20:08:04Z")
Because the board administration is congenitally incapable of admitting that anything they’ve set up is less than intelligently designed.
I believe the latest excuse for this issue is that it’s a sifting mechanism to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.
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### Author:  [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/3 "2012-07-18T20:26:04Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> Because the board administration is congenitally incapable of admitting that anything they’ve set up is less than intelligently designed.
>
> I believe the latest excuse for this issue is that it’s a sifting mechanism to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.
But, but, we’re already _sifted_, as it were. Can’t they institute a different system for logged in members?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/4 "2012-07-18T21:06:11Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> I believe the latest excuse for this issue is that it’s a sifting mechanism to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.
It apparently doesn’t work too well in that regard, either.😉
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/5 "2012-07-18T21:09:09Z")
I wouldn’t know, having never felt the need to comment on a column.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/6 "2012-07-18T21:31:47Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> I wouldn’t know, having never felt the need to comment on a column.
So your comments in this thread are simply recreational. 😉
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/7 "2012-07-18T22:37:14Z")
What’s the opposite of recreational outrage? Recreational inrage?
Anyway, a link on a column would seem to make sense. But it would also imply that Cecil might comment on the comment. And we can’t have that.
By “we” I mean Ed.
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/8 "2012-07-19T04:01:40Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> Because the board administration is congenitally incapable of admitting that anything they’ve set up is less than intelligently designed.
>
> I believe the latest excuse for this issue is that it’s a sifting mechanism to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.
Hmmm, merging arguments about SDMB admin culture and intelligent design. If only we could someone to call every poster’s mother a sexual offender or insist all men are potential rapists, this thread could go somewhere. Feel free to suggest a homeopathic remedy.
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### Author:  [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/9 "2012-07-19T05:38:56Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> It apparently doesn’t work too well in that regard, either.😉
In what regard _does_ it work well? This is a serious question. The ‘Comment on this column’ feature has to be one of the most unfriendly I’ve seen on a modern website. Are we incapable of improving it?
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/10 "2012-07-19T05:56:08Z")
Being sent to a forum where you can see if somebody else has already started a thread seems like a good idea.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/11 "2012-07-19T13:41:24Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> Because the board administration is congenitally incapable of admitting that anything they’ve set up is less than intelligently designed.
Stuff and nonsense. But board administration (i.e., the mods and admins) are UNABLE to tamper with programming, and those technical support who ARE able to tamper with programming are too few, and too over-worked in too many directions.
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/12 "2012-07-19T14:52:09Z")
There is a link on every column page that takes you to the “Comments” forum. You do have to look at the forum to see what’s already there.
Asking the user to read for comprehension is not asking a lot.
This is not like a blog, where threaded comments are collected.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/13 "2012-07-19T17:52:03Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> Because the board administration is congenitally incapable of admitting that anything they’ve set up is less than intelligently designed.
This is the Straight Dope. We don’t put up with that Intelligent Design nonsense around here.
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### Author:  [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/14 "2012-07-19T17:57:51Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#):
>
> There is a link on every column page that takes you to the “Comments” forum. You do have to look at the forum to see what’s already there.
>
> Asking the user to read for comprehension is not asking a lot.
>
> This is not like a blog, where threaded comments are collected.
Oh cmon. For one thing, if that’s what you want, take him to a link that provides a searched listing of threads already discussing that column for instance. For another, when was the last time someone actually _did_ look at the forum to see what’s already there before posting? I’ll bet it doesn’t happen often. Heck, I didn’t even do that. Nothing told me I was supposed to.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/15 "2012-07-19T20:56:00Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#):
>
> There is a link on every column page that takes you to the “Comments” forum. You do have to look at the forum to see what’s already there.
>
> Asking the user to read for comprehension is not asking a lot.
>
> This is not like a blog, where threaded comments are collected.
Like I said: congenitally incapable.
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### Author:  [@ScarletNumber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScarletNumber)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/16 "2012-07-19T22:29:29Z")
It’s a feature, not a bug.
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### Author:  [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-procedure-for-commenting-on-cecils-columns-so-incredibly-unfriendly/628652/17 "2012-07-19T23:44:55Z")
Since when has anything related to Cecil been _friendly?_