Panicked MSM Begins Killing Off Comment Sections

Unfortunately a lot of people, mainstream news followers leaning, seem to base their opinions from internet commentary sections, and as mentioned of already it's a haven for trolls. In the long run have to look to what the consequences may be. A decision as such to follow through removing comment sections, I believe it will kill off a lot of the remaining MSM news hold on the net. For one there is a positive part, them killing off the sections means they are intimidated by those they cannot control even by the placement of shills. That's almost expected and known. Then we have to wonder what is next? Will the people who so adamantly follow the MSM online and off, finally seek other places, or be more so locked into a path where they cannot seek an alternative view which some of the comments presented may have caught their attention. Will they finally seek an Alt route or? The trolls and shills will move on, to places like ATS unfortunately.

One in observance that was quite sad, some might remember, crappy Yahoo's comment sections during last presidential elections it had Paul, Obama and Romney. The Paul section was so rampantly controlled, only trolls comments(or what seemed liked shills with multiple names, could tell it was the same person) were not flagged for removal. The other two forums seemed controlled at least by the same, because they were more positive towards the candidate, anything different was quickly removed for the most part.

Yep, same here in Germany. You either cannot comment at all or you need to make an account with the site, where beforehand you could just coment anonymously. And of course they don't post comments they don't like.

They are also changing polls that don't turn out to their liking, though they do that everywhere, I guess: A bit ago a news-magazine made a poll what currency its readers would favour for Germany. I think the choice was Dollar, Euro, a currency based on gold, D-Marks and a newly created yet unnamed NWO currency (the NWO-part being my addition of course). The vast majority (over 75%) voted for the D-Mark, followed by a gold based currency in the low double-digits, the rest was below 5% if I remember correctly.

Of course that wasn't what their masters wanted, so they removed the two winning options, and low and behold, now the readers seemed to favor the Euro...

reply to post by amraks

I can understand why they are taking them away, seems you can't though.

I willing to bet that that the reason they are taking them off is not because they are "scared," but rather they are sick of all the trash comments, bickering, BS, trolling, spam, and other BS that clog and further disrupt the honest exchange of information.

I'm willing to bet.

No conspiracy.

ATS would—and kinda does— the same. Same principle.

reply to post by imd12c4funn


I remember reading an article about how your stress level drops tremendously when you are 50-60. And OMG, you should have read the comments on that!! The readers were in complete disagreement to say the least. I think thats one of the main reason they are shutting them off, when they post some article about how sunny and rosy things are and that we should have happy thoughts, people posting comments respond with the TRUTH. The propaganda is not working any more.

reply to post by imd12c4funn


I can see both sides of the coin here. Given the low level of discourse and off-topic comments at some sites, I can see why some news purveyors want to get rid of the comments section because they feel it reflects on their product. Obviously I also understand the importance of free discourse. Sometimes a commenter will also post a URL to a very interesting alternate source (not unlike here at ATS), so I value such comments.

As others have mentioned here, I generally go to the comments section of any article to take the pulse of the readership, for entertainment purposes, and for the the few pearls of wisdom and information that some commenters may dispense. I imagine a lot of people value comments for the same reason. It might be the case that sites that get rid of their comment sections start getting lower viewership, and consequently might have to bring them back at some point.

The comments that annoy me the most (besides totally incoherent and/or illiterate ones) are those at tech blogs for various computer tutorials, which are just thank you's to the blog author or repeat a sentence from the OP and then put a link to their own twitter account or some other URL. I just want to see comments concerning corrections, additional information and questions at such places. It seems there is still a lot of room for improvement the implementation of comment sections, in particular filtering comments, that would make comment sections much more copacetic to readers.

On a related note, I've seen a number of news blogs moving to outsource their comment section to the Livefyre service; Disqus (sp?) is another one. I have concerns about the monopolization of comment sections by such services.

As a last comment I have to say ATS does a very commendable job of allowing free discourse as much as possible (for the most part, barring a few subjects) while also having a lot of rules to maintain decorum and such, and employs a number of people to keep this up. Obviously all websites' business models can't do this, but as ATS relies primarily on user-created content, it makes sense that ATS does it this way. I have my gripes about ATS moderators' actions sometimes, but overall they do quite well and perform a necessary and often thankless service.

reply to post by imd12c4funn


Boingboing (the first site in the video) didn't get rid of their comments, and they aren't really political. When they touch on politics they are left leaning, but most the posts are just interesting things. The site is not a news site it's opinion and the top story right now is about breaking bad. It's more a pop culture site.

And again I just checked and there are still comments.

I stopped commenting since everyone started using disqus.

amraks
reply to post by Liquesence

 

Yeah but these comments could wake up some people who believe everything these news corps are telling them. Thats why they are scared because its already has started.

No, trashy, off-topic, directly insulting, obscenely biased, and trollish comments do not help wake people up.

They disrupt the honest and constructive exchange of information.

But narrow and simply-minded people seem to think that such comments are helpful or constructing.

Liquesence
reply to post by amraks

 

I can understand why they are taking them away, seems you can't though.

I willing to bet that that the reason they are taking them off is not because they are "scared," but rather they are sick of all the trash comments, bickering, BS, trolling, spam, and other BS that clog and further disrupt the honest exchange of information.

I'm willing to bet.

No conspiracy.

ATS would—and kinda does— the same. Same principle.

I used to think it was just moderation too, but it's not. It's more than that. They want to reflect an appearance of agreement. If it seems like everyone agrees it reconfirms their article making it appear more credible.

It's not just that they're deleting comments-they also make it difficult to make them in the first place. Almost every website makes you register with them, give your e-mail, wait for confirmation, and sometimes wait up to 24 hours before posting your comment. It's suppose to be anti-troll protection, but this is a smoke screen.

Trolls are a tiny percentage of on-line commenters. Most people who comment are giving their real opinion or belief. We think it's trolling because we don't like their point of view, or they are not bright or polite enough for our tastes. I've met very few people in life who want to waste time by winding people up. If someone is consistently "trolling" they might be a shill, but this still stems from a belief system.

No, what TPTB want is complete lack of dissent. They think you "shouldn't be allowed to speak." (I've read that exact sentiment again and again.)

Anyone who wants to dissent has to come to a site like this one and preach mostly to the choir.

I wouldn't be too worried.

most of the news comment sections are filled with sheeple anyway.

If they take the comment sections away, you have sites like this one that will take over. if the MSM was smart, they'd leave it alone.

Awesome, more people are talking about what I brought up months ago.

Now everyone will just think I'm crazy and forget what I brought up months ago but shower the new people who talk about it with praise.

Oftentimes I find more useful or just flat out more accurate information in the comments section than in the article itself. It doesn't make the article pointless though. No, it enriches its value.

Now, instead of the article being the beginning and the end of the conversation, it becomes a conversation starter to a conversation that never has to end... Sometimes the majority will agree with the writer, sometimes not. But get over it, nobody expects anybody to be perfect. We are all human.

Writers will just need to let go of their ego and join the human race. Unless you are intentionally pushing an agenda that is not good for humanity or for nature, or is considered distasteful for other reasons like greed or revenge, then no harm, no foul.

Life can continue on, better fitting its intended purpose as a learning experience for us all!

I say: Let the sites with an open and free comments section flourish but with reasonable expectations of decency because, after all, there could be kids reading the comments!! Yay!!!!

Yeah...we'll have to have somebody work on that a bit, maybe shorten that into a battle call that can be shouted at the top of your lungs in one breath. Having to stop and take another breath really crushed the momentum there... :l

teachtaire
Awesome, more people are talking about what I brought up months ago.

Now everyone will just think I'm crazy and forget what I brought up months ago but shower the new people who talk about it with praise.

edit on 30-9-2013 by teachtaire because: (no reason given)

Tsk Tsk Tsk... Teachtaire! What did I tell you about making up stories? Smh... Didn't I tell you that if you keep that up you're going to ruin your credibility? I just don't get it man...what is it with you? Are you crazy or something? I have a feeling I'll never figure you out, you and your crazy schemes...

By the way, GREAT thread, OP. This is why I keep coming back to ATS, this right here buddy! Let me just add you to my friends list here. You're the kind of person I want to keep an eye on. I'll have my secretary alert me directly as soon as you make another thread. And I have a good feeling I'll be spending lots of my freetime perusing through your posts... Little diamonds among the rough, that's what they are! Anyway this thread's pure genius, can't wait to see more from you. In fact I might have a paid position for you in the future if you keep cranking out original gems like this one. So keep it up buddy. There's definitely a future for you in this area.
Cmon everybody! Let's hear it for imd12c4funn! "'For eee's a jolly good fellow! For eee's a jolly good fellow..." *the gleeful singing lasted late into the night with much celebration*

As for you, teachtaire... I wouldn't quit my dayjob if I were you, pal! *scowls and walks away shaking my head, wondering why teachtaire couldn't be more like his or her older sibling*

reply to post by Auricom

A few weeks ago i wrote back to The Daily mail, what was interesting was my comment was printed but with a different user name and one word removed, and yes that word was muslem. Having looked more closely i have seen this happen often, same information but the word muslem removed, interesting I think.

reply to post by imd12c4funn


TBHWY... the MODS on Media Websites are playing God! What is the point of 'Free Speech' when our Posts/Comments get deleted before posting on the Article??

I think there are some real dodgy MODS out there who just for fun like to delete people's comments but it is very annoying. They think that because they are MODS that they get the right to rule!!

They are becoming the NWO. Allowing some but not allowing others...

reply to post by dreamingawake


Thats it.

It seems like its all about 'Control'.

There are some people who don't like others 'Free Thinking' and possibly turn someones thoughts, who before were with them are now turning against them (If you know what I mean).

I have noticed the surreptitious censoring for a while. At least two years ago. I would try to post comments on yahoo and they would not appear. Then I would do a test post to see if my connection had problems or if it was their server. I would type "testing 1, 2, 3" or even write a pro establishment post AND IT WOULD APPEAR NORMALLY! Once the communication line was established I would copy&paste the message every 5-10 minutes to ensure maximum exposure without flooding the comments section.

On other sites like cnn and reuters it says that your message must be approved for quality(no swearing) before posting. They admitted having moderators on some sites and automatic censoring software on others. Most of the time my messages would not get approved, AND IT WASNT FOR SWEARING! You would have to sugarcoat everything and be political correct for the message to appear.

I guess now they took it a step forward and have banned comments all together. Pathetic desperation on their part! The machine will eventually fall. Keep up the pressure my friends!

Take the Huffington Post. Place a relevant link to pertinent information and they don't post it. They are driving an Agenda not open for discussion.

Boadicea
Call me crazy if you will, but I find this quite heartening and encouraging, because it shows the PTB are losing the war on (dis)information

There really are more of "us" than "them." They know this, hence the constant divide-and-conquer tactics. The day we stop blaming each other and put the blame squarely on their shoulders... the day we stand together for the greater good of all (which is also the greatest good of the individual)... is the day the tides turn. And they know it.

gave you your 69 star which seemed funny because now your data says star 69 like you're looking up a telephone number. any, wise words indeed there Boadicea and that day is coming for better or for worse.

It’s really simple propaganda does not welcome different incite, news does.