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Commentary on the comments that are posted and who reads them

Blog posts reflect the views of their authors.

This comment was posted by someone calling themselves "irritable mom," at the end of this thread. I thought it was worth reposting:

just so you all know, you are not in private, having a conversation in your living room or at some party. anyone can read this. you might think you are being clever with those nasty little digs here and there and taking the hard line slam dunking that point right home,  but really, you are just coming off as rude and arrogant. --and i'm not just talking about swearing, it's the attitude of intolerance.

It might be interesting to remember that sometimes people who live outside of the world of political activism visit these sites because they are sick of listening to all the b.s. on the corporate news and heard of this thing called 'independant media' so they stop by to check it out. and this is what they find? abrasive, mean spirited people.

would you talk like this on a crowded bus? or in a classroom, or where you work, or at a dinner table? in front of your kids, or your grandparents?

you are not on the streets right now involved in some heated altercation. you are sitting in front of your computer, probably in a comfy chair maybe with your lovely cat or dog nearby. is this really the place to take out your frustrations? there's plenty of opportunities to vent your spleen with blogger or wordpress, this isn't a private blog site, it's a public news and communications service, it's supposed to facilitate dialogue.

so what is the point of being so mean? it makes it impossible to actually participate in or even read through the comments -because in order to sift through everything there is so much nastiness it's hardly worth the effort to get to the place where there is productive dialogue going on.

it really takes the charm out of open communication and public debate when so many people seem only interested in blowing their own horns and stonewalling anyone who disagrees or has other, perhaps, conflicting information.


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dru (Dru Oja Jay)
Montreal
Member since January 2008

About:

Writer, organizer, Media Co-op co-founder. Co-author of Paved with Good Intentions and Offsetting Resistance.

349 words

Comments

Just wondering if Twitter Comments Leading to Stories get 2 list

 from the Twitter index of Good info to threToronto Media Co-op News ? thx

Amen

Thanks Dru.

Commentors

The comments on here aren't necessarily from people who value the web site and other projects like it.

Anonymous Comments

I would like the Anonymous Commenting feature to be removed. I think it contributes to the behavior described above.

Seconded

Agreed.

Accounts already are semi-anonymous, but at least there's a bit more commitment involved in setting one up.

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