There's a difference between a negative comment and a hateful comment. Engaging hate usually leads nowhere and the source is often too subjective to matter. But

There's a difference between a negative comment and a hateful comment. Engaging hate usually leads nowhere and the source is often too subjective to matter. But understanding constructive criticism or user sentiment is important. If 30% of users are now hateful because you've failed to fix a bug, you have a problem, and your comment system isn't it. There are also practical implications such as NPR not being able to moderate fast enough to put out fires. But there's also the issue of the audience. When I'm walking down Spring Street in DTLA I usually (regrettably) ignore all the random comments, since I know the audience. But if I were participating in a staff meeting I called for, I'd engage every comment, and probably even prioritize the hateful ones, not that there are any. I always love landing on Youtube videos with close to zero dislikes. They're usually fairly specific or niche, and so the audience got there by seeking it themselves. And they searched because they wanted to see something from that artist. I find random acts of hatefulness result mostly from random traffic. And the upside of intentional hate is that at least you matter enough that they chose you as their target.