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The invention of the comment section for web pages like Facebook, YouTube, etc. is a great way to read what people think about posts online. In an article by Michael Erard he discussed what the comment section was meant to be and how it is perceived today, before going into a brief history of how the comment section came to be. How it started as a respond board online to the comments we all know today. In the article Michael states “when I went digging into the history of the Web to find out where online comments really came from, it’s clear that they’re the consequences of what was technically feasible at a certain point and how that feasibility was subsequently implemented”. He takes the stance that the Affordances the comment section allows makes it possible for people to abuse it. he also states that “We tend to think that comments represent the culture, but in fact the distinct culture of commenting grew out of digital constraints.” through this it can be determined that the author of this article takes a technological determinist view point on the comment section. He goes on to explain that the comment section is used in distasteful ways because it is open to everyone, that this technology allows everyone to comment and add impute. That is just one of the affordances of the comment section so on analysis of his article, it’s the technology that determines its used.

In my opinion I’d agree with his view but I would also say that the comment section is more social shaping of technology. I believe that the practices and uses of technology is what shape them so the comment section is shaped by the people who use it a vise versa. That now because of how comment sections are used socially, we know what to expect and there have been innovations to the technology based on how it is used socially. for instance, now people can block particularly rude commenters from commenting or how the most liked comment appear first. So while I think Michael is not wrong I believe that both the technology and how it is used effect how it grows and develops.

“http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/magazine/no-comments.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0