Once upon a time, comments sections on online articles were a revolutionary forum for reader interaction, the quickest and easiest ever way for an audience to respond to content-providers. They were a smart and useful tool that any credible news organization needed to take advantage of, lest they appear disinterested in their readers.
But somewhere along the way, the comments section became an internet-wide dumpster fire, a hot-take haven most of us visit only to see how low humanity can stoop. Thus the decision by The MMQB — SI’s Peter-King-run NFL vertical — to ditch the comments section, as of today.
Website note: Commenting will be turned off on all stories as of July 1.Instead, email us at themmqb@gmail.com or FB https://t.co/V2TKnDWaj1
— The MMQB (@theMMQB) June 30, 2016
At one point, this choice would have been rightly criticized as ducking reader response and walling off from the audience. But now, given all the comments-section bile we’ve all witnessed over the years, the question isn’t why The MMQB has gone in this direction but why other outlets haven’t.
It’s not like the comments section is the only means of interacting with a piece content. Readers can reach writers and outlets on Twitter, Facebook and through email. In fact, The MMQB solicited feedback on Twitter about its comments section decision and have this note at the bottom of every article:
Question or comment? Email us at talkback@themmqb.com.
Comments sections have outlived their usefulness. They’re almost always either effectively dormant or cesspools of hate, anger and personal attacks, and they often require moderation from the site operators, which can be exhausting and time-consuming. Frankly, there’s no point keeping them around when reasonable alternatives exist. Have something to say to the author of an article? Find him/her on Twitter. Have feedback for the site? Send an email. Want to engage in a conversation with other fans about the subject of the article? Use a hashtag on social media.
The decision to keep or ditch comments sections obviously varies from publication to publication. Some sites inevitably have tamer comments sections than others, and each outlet can choose its own forum for reader response, but at this point there’s no reason for more publications to go the way of The MMQB. Comments section aren’t adding anything to our sports dialogue, and they often seem to make the internet more hateful while acting as a burden on the people who run websites. There’s little reason to keep them around.
