It's a smart move. For an outfit like Motherboard, unless you are curating comments, they aren't going to add much value, and can do the opposite.
A widget can give you comments, but not discussion.
I think this is a great idea from a business perspective. Harvest what works from magazines and newspapers, toss what doesn't work. Use the letter to create even more discussion and content.
Agreed. User interaction isn't something that can be done on the side, and it isn't why people are coming to Motherboard in the first place. That said, I wonder if people's expectations have changed in regards to curation. It might sting more these days to write a long and thoughtful letter, and then not make the cut. Motherboard will have to strike the balance.
I'm fairly certain that discussion on the web is going to be handled increasingly by services that are designed specifically for it.
It's an uncomfortably elitist thought, and every moron has only been shouting in your face since the whole social media thing took off. That's more like 10 years. Before we all clustered around the same handful of sites we'd have at least some common ground with most of the people we interacted with, because that's the only way we would end up in the same place.
I think that all you need to get comfortable with elitism is to post something free on Craigslist. It allows you to recognize that those Youtube comments you despair of? They're written by real live human beings for whom those comments exemplify their peak contribution to society.
Elitist? Fuck yeah. But at some point you need to recognize that there are stupid people in the world, there are opinionated fuckwits that think decibels=knowledge and that a free market will marginalize all but the most entertaining of them.
Ours is not a flat society. People are elevated and depressed based on their interactions with the outside world. While the Great White Hope of the Internet was flattening the peaks and valleys of our hierarchical world, we're steadily realizing that gradients and friction aren't bad by definition.
I agree.
Giving every person a mouthpiece is what makes the internet powerful and great, taking that away will only drive people away from your site, and kill what makes the internet what it is.
If you can't deal with people being allowed to speak, and do so publicly, and in direct response to you, it is you that should take a long hard look at yourself, not them.
- If you can't deal with people being allowed to speak, and do so publicly, and in direct response to you, it is you that should take a long hard look at yourself, not them.
Replace "Straight Outta Compton" with "Straight outta straight white dude that never gets harassed for his gender or the color of his skin online" territory.
I mean for real dude. Your internet mouthpiece has given me more racist pms on various sites than I could ever count.
I mean fuck. All of this salt and white people still don't know how to season food, lololol.
Someone who is harassing others is committing a crime, a crime which does not deserve protection under free speech.
I am not speaking of harassment, I am speaking of the general reaction people have to groups who disagree with them, to call them stupid, idiots, to ignore their points, the positions they are coming from, in favor of viewing their words as useless and negatives. The "don't dare read the comments" attitude to an article that says the right things, but in a tone that provokes people, inciting hostile reactions.
Secondly, I think it's very incorrect that you assume that "never been harassed" is somehow a negative factor in being able to decide if something should be banned or not. You are, quite literally, saying that people who have never had bad experiences on the internet are somehow less qualified to make decisions.
Rather, the opposite is true. The best decision on if comments are good or not will come from a third party, well read, actor who has little personal investment in the subject. What you have done is placed yourself further away from that "best decision maker" than the people you are putting down.
You have said, quite clearly, that the reason for your interest in disliking the ability for everyone to speak is because you place your experiences online, what harassment you have seen, as the largest and most important factor.
It's understandable you would have the view with your experiences, but those experiences do no make you and expert, and not having them does not disqualify someone from having a valid opinion, or at least an opinion at least as valid as your own..