3 ms·
Two things: 1. Journalists need to learn the difference between "trolling" and other varieties of being a jerk on the internet. Trolling is a very specific act
by hugh4 11y ago
Two things:
1. Journalists need to learn the difference between "trolling" and other varieties of being a jerk on the internet. Trolling is a very specific activity, of posting something you don't really believe, in order to get an angry response. It is very different to being uncivil. It's very possible to troll in a civil way ("The moon: a ridiculous liberal myth"), and most of the uncivil comments on the internet aren't trolling, they're just people being jerks, stating what they really believe in a way that isn't very nice.
2. People are, in general, pretty bad at distinguishing between "this comment is bad" and "I disagree with this comment". Letting users censor comments seems destined to lead to the development of a situation where people of a certain ideological bent eventually take over, happily censoring everything else. People of different ideological bents will get tired of having their comments deleted and will go find somewhere else.