The Commentocracy rises online

Spencer Collins · #1 (**permalink**) 07-31-2008, 05:12 AM

The Commentocracy rises online

By DANIEL LIBIT

Quote:

When Erick Erickson, editor in chief of the conservative Web site RedState.com, wrote a post that called Cindy Sheehan a “left-wing media whore,” he expected angry feedback.

He didn’t, though, expect commenters at Daily Kos to post his contact information, including his work phone number. Site moderators removed his information, but not before Erickson received a number of ominous phone calls and e-mail messages, including one from a writer who threatened to “rape my wife and unborn child.” He placed a call to the FBI in response, and nothing came of the threats.

“That was first time anything like that happened to me,” he says, “and I was really taken aback, but now it’s almost run of the mill.”

Behold the Commentocracy, where big ideas and rough remarks sit shoulder to shoulder, altogether transforming the nature of the Web and of journalism.

Two weeks ago, Daily Kos posted its 20 millionth comment, most of them, to be sure, at a considerably higher level of discourse than that aimed at Erickson. It is common for front-page posts and “diary” entries to receive hundreds of comments each.

Bill Harnsberger, who writes the Cheers & Jeers column for the site, started off as a commenter. Encouraged by other commenters’ responses to his missives, he began occasionally writing diaries for the site, which does not pay contributors or limit who can contribute. He attracted a following so large that when he lost his job as a copy writer at a marketing company last September, readers got together and within one week collected enough money to pay him to write for Kos full time.

Across the Web, political sites (along with those dedicated to other mainstream distractions like music, culture and sports) are accumulating such a mass of reader responses that it is changing the very nature of the online exchange. Unique commenting communities, cultures and hierarchies have formed at various sites, distinguished from one another by the province’s ideology, protocol and professionalism.

Web sites ranging from the smallest of blogs straight through to The New York Times are struggling to discourage spammers and bomb-throwers without tamping down the larger, productive give-and-take.

Writers and editors have become obsessed with comment tallies (even if many don’t deign to read the comments themselves), which have become a favored, albeit unreliable, barometer for determining editorial success and tapping into the political zeitgeist.

“I’ve seen great blog posts and great articles that get zero comments, and some of it is the writing,” says LATimes.com Executive Editor Meredith Artley. “I also see people try way too hard to get comments. I think it’s nice to engage at every turn but the number of comments you get on a story and blog post isn’t everything. We have to tell a lot of new bloggers that here. They get upset after a month or two that they are only getting a handful of comments a day.”

Kos Editor Susan Gardner recalls her own hesitancy in posting comments when she started out as a reader on the site back in 2003. At the time, she says, there were only 8,000 users who had registered to comment, compared with more than 170,000 today.

Active commenters, though, remain a relatively small and self-selected group. “For every 10 who read,” Gardner continues, “one will sign up as a reader. And of every 10, only one will comment, and of every 10 who do, one will become a diarist.”

More?

The Commentocracy rises online - Daniel Libit - Politico.com

Welcome to the Political Wrinkles "Commentocracy"..we have some of the best commentary on the web...keep it up..

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saltwn · #2 (**permalink**) 07-31-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spencer Collins

The Commentocracy rises online

By DANIEL LIBIT

Welcome to the Political Wrinkles "Commentocracy"..we have some of the best commentary on the web...keep it up..

-

Or at least the most sarcastic, beutifully handsome and opinionated!

Mikeyy · #3 (**permalink**) 07-31-2008, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

Or at least the most sarcastic, beutifully handsome and opinionated!

Oh lets not be modest. We are also sophisticated and humorous.

L.P. Farnsworth · #4 (**permalink**) 08-06-2008, 04:40 AM

I used to read DK occasionally in the past, but the more popular it got, the more shrill and blatantly stupid it got; it's not any more intellectually honest than MoveOn.org is, these days. I can say the same about National Review, too, since it was taken over by William Buckley's son. It's pretty rare to find any reasonably sophisticated political commentary online, whatever the bias, right or left, IMHO, and I make it a point to regularly read across the entire political spectrum.

That is a direct result of much lower education standards, especially in college grads. The average IQ of college students has dropped almost 20 points since the 70's, according to some recent studies, and it shows, often painfully, most obviously on the internet, but also in newspapers and elsewhere, even in the so-called 'think tank' publications, like Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, etc. Obviously Philosophy 101 and 102 is no longer a university course requirement any more, and I can't find an intro logic course anywhere in my local high school academic track, even as an elective, either.

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