[acadapter]

The things people say in the era where comment fields have been removed from news websites (in the name of "avoiding misinformation")...

[vegetablepotpie]

I’m not sure the comment fields are considered by media organizations or public figures… like, at all. I remember talking to a journalist about a series they were working on, they said the feedback they’ve gotten has been overwhelmingly positive and no one had anything bad to say about it. The comments on their articles were absolutely negative and vitriolic. I don’t think anyone with a shred of influence or responsibility in western society reads them.

[asveikau]

To be fair, a lot of comment sections are garbage, and they can be trolled and brigaded.

[lmm]

> I remember talking to a journalist about a series they were working on, they said the feedback they’ve gotten has been overwhelmingly positive and no one had anything bad to say about it. The comments on their articles were absolutely negative and vitriolic.

There are two quite different possible interpretations for that fact pattern.

[hyeonwho4]

For an article like this, the negative comments would be aimed at the people in the article, not the journalist. So the article can be a great (muckraking) article, and the comments might also be vitriolic, and everything is good if the rage is well-aimed.