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We're Getting Rid of Comments on VICE.com(vice.com)
almost 7 years ago from Sam Solomon, Staff Product Designer at Salesloft
Philip Weber, almost 7 years ago
Discourse is healthy
That is like saying food is healthy. There are many kinds of food and many kinds of discourse.
Text based online discourse invariable leads to treating each other poorly. When you don't see someone's reaction while talking to them, you are capable of saying things you would never to say to someone's face.
For example, based on your comments on this thread, I'm angry at you. I think you are an asshole. It's easy for me to say that because you aren't a human to me. You're words on a screen. I'm 95% sure that if we met in person, we'd have a lot in common and get a long quite well.
Art Vandelay, almost 7 years ago
The best part is that you're allowed to think @Aubrey Johnson is an asshole cause you can have an opinion!
Comment threads are the dirty butthole of the internet but to remove it completely means the shit is gonna go somewhere else, not that its gone.
VICE being as edgy as it is just became more concerned with legalities of their own comment section than the stuff they report on.
Big fucking losers if you ask me. Then again, whoever said VICE was news and not entertainment is a straight up idiot, IMO.
FYI - I'd probably be considered an asshole too and that's just fine with me.
Hint: He's an asshole in real life too ;)
Aubrey Johnson, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )
Text based online discourse invariable leads to treating each other poorly.
Seems like almost every piece of communication software we use today is in disagreement with that idea though (slack, messenger, iMessage, hangout, etc etc). People are obviously capable of communicating online via text just fine.
I think the issue you are inadvertently pointing to though is maturity.
Maybe I'm weird here but I don't think about other people online as "not-human" (including you Philip - I imagine you are a person, living your life, are real/have feelings, etc). I don't think meeting in person is a requirement to get along in a digital age. In fact, I think it's a requirement to learn TO get along and ignore those who don't play by the same societal rules we apply to real life. In VICE's case here, this would be like sewing everyone's mouthes shut vs just ignoring people or leaving the scene or whatever.
Of the people that you communicate with on Slack, messenger, iMessage, and Hangouts, how many have you not met in person? I would guess very few. Even if you talk to coworkers on Slack that you have never met in person, you have an ongoing relationship with them.
Comment threads are public discourse, mostly between strangers. You may think that you view everyone you talk to online as human, but you don't. No one does. You can't read a thread with tens or hundreds of participants and consider the nature of their existence.
My opinion (for now) is that there are problematic issues with comments. The discussion we are having right now, though both of us have made it slightly uncivil at times, is interesting to me, and I've learned something from it, so, hey, I guess I'm not against them. However, more often than not, I regret participation.
This is hilarious to me as well.
I definitely understand the legitimate complaint of innocent people getting doxxed and reporters receiving death threats. These are unacceptable.
"engaging in hate speech against pretty much every group imaginable" - doesn't this just negate the concept? Seems like everyone pisses everyone else off or something they do/say/wear/think/love etc makes people mad. Again, assholes everywhere. Discourse is healthy.