The audience is writing
Do comments add value?
This piece by George Brock questions the value of allowing readers to comment:
The idea that comments would add value turned out to be false. Worse, they are slowly becoming anti-value, repelling rather than attracting users.
Whilst there are talented writers, beneath whose pieces the quality of the comments rarely adds to the value of clicking on the piece, not all articles are that brilliant.
When the writer has that rare talent, the piece works both to raise an issue, and to stylishly provide the information to leave the reader satisfied. If you go to a restaurant and eat a tasty meal, you’re less likely to seek out reviews to validate your opinion than if you have a poor experience.
Whilst no restaurant could survive by deliberately cooking mediocre food, news & comment sites can still profit from a poor article by providing the audience with the chance to criticise and to do better. Many bloggers now seem to be employed to produce a churn of stories, often ludicrous, designed to spark debate as much about the quality of the expression as the content. Many people gain Twitter followers who read what they have to say out of morbid fascination, rather than agreement.
Some call it hate reading — there are some authors whose pieces I click on just to scroll past the piece and go directly to the comments. Some, like the author of this comment, read bad writing as a form of therapy:
When I’m feeling insecure, all I have to do is read some angsty kid’s pseudo-philosophical musings and I’ll remember how far I’ve come.Some of my tried-and-true hate-reading regulars include an ex-roommate who refers to her significant other as “The Boyf” and brags about how she only eats at Michelin-starred restaurants; a former co-worker who extols the values of juice cleanses and composes lists with titles like, “The Top 10 Ways to Stay Present and Centered;” the friend-of-a-friend whose wedding site features a countdown ticker and engagement ring video montage; and the acquaintance who has a “fashion blog” even though she only ever posts black-and-white photos of herself in American Apparel leotards. I’m endlessly fascinated by how obnoxious these people are, and equally entertained by their ignorance of that fact.
Comments aren’t anti-value, and there can’t be much danger of them disappearing. For less brilliant writers,the comments provide the real entertainment. Some of these bad writers will take to Twitter or to the space beneath their work to engage with the trolls who write snark under their pieces, lamenting that the troll has either not read, or need not have read the work. It’s the writer who is misunderstanding the exchange, employed as they are to provide a reason to the punters just to click a link.Ad revenues aren’t dependent upon the quality of the expression, a click in ‘hatred’ is as valid as a click in interest. So long as the comments are delineated, with some sort of boundary between them and the writing, they are an optional proposition. In many cases they present the real value.
