The News-Sentinel needs to just do away with the comment feature...

[F-Stop]

I'm just happy that a couple of you have reminded that somethingawful.com still exists. This should help me get through the day; 'twas a rough night.

Thanks

Hehe

forums.somethingawful.com

[F-Stop]

Okay, i have just lost my shit. I'm sitting here, reduced to tears, at work, reading the comments section of the NS. This incident on sunday has completely unnerved my inner being. Hoping to find some sort of solace in the comments section (why, i guess i'm masochistic, i don't know), I'm instead greeted by bible thumpers who can't seem to understand that civil rights have nothing to do with Leviticus, this, that and all the other tired old stuff they trot out whenever possible. I'm trying to pull myself back together and be a bit professional.

Just close the KNS webpage and put on some nice music at work if you can...

[Freshly Cracked Pepper]

Just close the KNS webpage and put on some nice music at work if you can...

Thanks. I just have to finally realize that I can't change what's been been ingrained in peoples minds. I just wish i could feel like i could make a difference, and right now thats on par with moving a mountain.

[SnM]

Thanks. I just have to finally realize that I can't change what's been been ingrained in peoples minds. I just wish i could feel like i could make a difference, and right now thats on par with moving a mountain.

you can make a difference. embrace your friends and loved ones. contact someone you haven't reached out to in a while. let them know you care. donate blood. attend tonight's vigil.

maybe you can't change people's thoughts or minds or hearts. but you can let your circle of life know how much you care about them. if you do that for someone, then perhaps they will do the same for their circle, which touches different circles than yours. and so on

it's not much, maybe mostly feel-good fantasy, maybe sisyphean in its unendingness. but it's real, it's immediate, and it will make someone feel better. and maybe that will make you feel better.

[thedisobedients]

Ya can't save stupid people from their own stupidity. If we were all still hunter-gatherers they would have already wandered off into the bushes for the lions to pounce on em, but that's not the way it works now

[dilettantedude]

It seems like it's the same 8 (or so) people making the same comments on every story.

Then you get the stories that invite comments like this one about the UT student being robbed (I would imagine it will be removed at some point):

That's some enlightened thinking right there, folks. Is this the guy that got arrested at the Klan rally this summer?

The KNS comments feature needs to go.

If you start getting rid of letters like this, you remove the mirror Americans are forced to look into in the morning.

[bird jam]

FWIW, I would just like to point out that I originally created this thread in October of 2007. After reading some of the responses, including kag's, I don't necessarily feel the same way anymore, at least regarding doing away with the feature. When I saw Lail's blog post about the same topic, I decided to post it in this thread (post #11) as it seemed like the most appropriate place for it.

[faybe]

I did not even notice the original start date!
i think it's a good thread and i'm glad you resurrected it, bird jam.

[zulu]

Having a comments section at the bottom of every news story is pointless. The development and subsequent use of new internet technology seems to be an endless stream of foolishness that can be filed under the heading, "just because you can doesn't mean you should." Once upon a time, it was adding an autoplay midi file to every web page, or overloading a site with every possible bell and whistle that would take forever to download for the 90% of the intended audience who were, at the time, connected via 56K modems.

Now it's news sites that include comments on the bottom of every news story. The overcompensation of old media trying to act 'cool' as they delve into new media is causing them to undervalue professional writing and editing and overvalue the blather of people who feel compelled to hike a leg and leave a proverbial mark on every item published.

There is a time and place for everything, literally, on the internet. Critical thinking would suggest avoiding the urge to put everything in the same place at one time. News outlets should write and edit stories and publish them without attaching the lead shoes of unfiltered commentary that drags everything straight down to the lowest point possible. They should continue the tradition of letters to the editor and publish readers' opinions that have been submitted and reviewed for relevance. If they choose, they should include a site message board like the original MetroBlab, where relatively unfiltered commentary can take place. Blogs with comments are fine, allowing for rapport between readers and staff. That's all great. There's just no point to using every news story to provide a platform for unfiltered and often ill-considered running commentary by small numbers of people with more opinions than actual cognitive thoughts.

[Rocky Hillian]

Having a comments section...

Ditto.