Are harsh internet commenters scaring off sources?
Story Lab - Blowback: Do comments scare off sources?
I think we've seen that internet comments on news sources add *nothing* to the conversation beyond race-baiting, ignorant nonsense. It's time we did away with them.
After the story appeared, I sent Sutherland an email asking him what he thought. He wasn’t happy with the drawing that accompanied the story, a couple of sharks circling a woman. And he wasn’t happy with the comments that readers posted on washingtonpost.com about the story.
You could hardly blame him. The Post's guidelines say that the site bans any "inappropriate" content and defines that as anything that is "libelous or defamatory," " is obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit," and "contains or advocates illegal or violent acts" among other things. But among the comments were these hard-to-stomach posts:
“What scum....Scam-acne-face-Sutherland and all his little minions, scum....special place in Hell for them,” wrote someone who went by the screen name griffmills.
“They should be hung up by their private parts and shot,” wrote billdinva2.
Sutherland said such comments were “why I was so hesitant in doing an interview” in the first place. “Lesson learned," he wrote, "I will never allow for another interview.”
*via Violet Blue*