Last fall, Popular Science made the carefully constructed decision to turn off the ability for its online readers to comment on articles. Why would a publication designed to encourage scientific discussion and debate remove the very feature that allows this? The answer is simple-online comments do more to hurt than help positive discussion. While far from a majority, a small minority of internet trolls and anti-intellectuals can actually hold the power to influence other readers' views on articles.
Popular Science cites a study by the University of Wisconsin, which found that readers were more likely to think strongly of the negative sides of a story after reading user comments.
I think on matters of science, those who bring erroneous and hate-filled commentary to an article can be especially dangerous. As Popular Science noted, "A politically motivated, decades-long war on expertise has eroded the popular consensus on a variety of scientifically validated topics." That last part is crucial. Things that have been proven to be true by a wide array of scientists, with almost no argument from anyone in the scientific community are being tossed back up in the air by folks who have no clue what they're talking about.
Now, I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on science, but I like to think I have the wherewithal to at least trust those who do. The world of anonymous online commenting doesn't seem to agree. So, I'm all for the magazine turning off the comments feature.
Now comes a tougher question: Is this the right move for other online outlets as well?
I think the answer, as much as it kind of hurts me to say it, is yes. One of the most important tenets of journalism at its very core is to inform people so they can debate amongst themselves in order to make an educated decision. Questions of concrete science, where there isn't much debate to be had about facts is one thing but most other news that we as journalists produce and distribute is released in order to help folks come to their own conclusions. For many, a vital part of the decision-making process is to talk with one's peers and discuss positives and negatives on an issue. Despite the fact that there will be those who abuse this process, it's an important one and one that dates back to the founding of our nation when our forefathers gathered constantly to weigh the issues at hand.
The internet makes things tricky because people tend to be far more cruel and nonsensical when under the cloak of anonymity but that's something we can get around. People say stupid things in person too and, if we're wise, we'll just choose to ignore it.
-Taylor Wilson
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