User Comments on Local News Sites

[Shwaz]

Obviously I'm all for online discussions especially pertaining to events, news and history of our great city but... reading the user comments on the locals news sites (Jacksonville.com / news4jax) I've hit a boiling point of anger & frustration towards the callous, mean-spirited and worthless comments that plague a majority of articles and comments.

A prime example from an article posted today:

(Story)

Man Arrested In Rape, Beating On Beach
Suspect Identified Friday Arrested Monday In Clay County

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. -- Police announce an arrest in the rape and beating of a woman on Jacksonville Beach in March.
Detectives said they obtained an arrest warrant for Nicholas McKenzie Highsmith, 19, on Friday based on physical evidence found at the crime scene. Jacksonville Beach police said he was arrested on Monday in Middleburg.
The victim was found sexually battered and beaten just after 6 a.m. on March 13. She said after she was attacked on the beach, she dragged herself to the lobby of the Casa Marina Hotel on First Street North to get help.
The victim underwent prolonged medical treatment for her injuries.

(comments)

RE ALL OF "THEM" ANIMALS??? I DARE YOU TO PICK UP ONE HITCH HIKING...OR LIVE IN THIER HOUSING PROJECTS. NOT SO ATTRACTIVE ANYMORE UH? BUT YOU ARE NO RACIST... RIGHT!!! HANG THIS FREAK, AND FINE HIS MOMMA FOR HAVING HIM. SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABORTED BUT MOMMA COULDN'T AFFORD IT. WITH THE PRICE OF CRACK AND ALL BACK THEN. BABY DADDY...MOMMA DON'T KNOW.

You wonder why Jax Beach started the $5 parking fees. The Africans hang out at the Jax Pier parking lot all night long, Jax Beach cops have their hands full on weekends. This cockroach waited til 6am to do his dirty work. Surprised?

LEAVE OUR WHITE WOMEN ALONE!

Max- They usually go for the fat white ones... Do you really care if they take them off your hands??

1 down, 1 to go...

As much as these ignorant racist comments make me ashamed and angry, it's the articles about those injured in accidents where people poke fun and use the same washed up 'darwin award' type jokes. I feel terrible for the victim's families and how they must feel when they read about their loved ones.

My first thought for solution was to contact the webmasters and plead for better moderation... but after seeing a majority of the comments are all vulgar / inappropriate I don't believe the forum is moderated at all.



Maybe my vote for disabling the comments is unfair to the people of Jacksonville's freedom of speech... or maybe I just ashamed and want to bury the commentary that makes us look like a division of the Westboro Baptist Church.

?

[jbroadglide]

I stopped reading the user comments a long time ago because of the loony tunes and racist nut jobs. I agree with you though Shwaz. It makes us look like buffoons. But go to some other cities local media websiotes and look at their viewer feedback. Pretty much the same as ours as far as nutjobs and negativism is concerned.

[JSquared]

Maybe I'm being obtuse, but what is the point of the comments section anyway?  It's certainly not to further the discussion, judging by the dregs that are the majority of commentors on 4, 12, and so on.

[copperfiend]

In the times union's case it is a tight knit group of military retirees who spend all their day posting racist and anti obama vitriol.

Stephen, don't forget that fat chick with the Glamour Shots avatar. Val?

[copperfiend]

On the FCN site, there was a regular poster whose screen name was KKKenny.

[JC]

In the times union's case it is a tight knit group of military retirees who spend all their day posting racist and anti obama vitriol.

Stephen, don't forget that fat chick with the Glamour Shots avatar. Val?

This is the only place I have read an actual discussion following an article, go met jax! .  

[Timkin]

go MJ!!

[Jumpinjack]

Maybe I'm being obtuse, but what is the point of the comments section anyway?  It's certainly not to further the discussion, judging by the dregs that are the majority of commentors on 4, 12, and so on.

Right! What is the point? Seems like they've created more problems for themselves.

[BridgeTroll]

Not sure what "military retirees" has to do with it... but the difference is... that kind of talk and vitriol is simply not tolerated here at all.  It is clear to all who read the TU comments that whomever moderates those comments is either not doing their job... or the TU finds these comments acceptable

[David]

It really does strike a nerve when the victim is someone you know and the people commenting are having a field day with the story like it’s some reality t.v. show. Maybe they should ban comments on storys that involve local victims, out of respect for the families.

I have a general fatigue of reading any comments on most of the new sites. It's as if some of these people have just NOW discovered they can write things down on the interwebs.

n00bs!

[Jaxson]

I do not know why news sites feel that comments should be anonymous.  Trolls and freaks are really dragging down the content of newspapers and television stations.  I can understand that there are legitimate reasons to be nameless on the Internet, but most (if not all of the anonymous) posters are usually whack jobs with nothing to do but stir the pot. 
If these 'reputable' news sites insist on anonymous postings, the least they could do is be a little more selective in what posts go on their sites.

[tufsu1]

While I think most comments left on news websites are terribly misinformed, I am even more dismayed with the MJ poll results....its called free speech people!

[Bativac]

I agree with you guys about the Jacksonville.com comments, but I think the commentary gets just as bad on Firstcoastnews.com, news4jax.com and even cnn.com.

I think most people just read the articles and talk to their friends and coworkers about them. If you have no friends and sit at home reading jacksonville.com with nobody to rant to, you post your insane ramblings for the world to see...

[JSquared]

I do not know why news sites feel that comments should be anonymous.  Trolls and freaks are really dragging down the content of newspapers and television stations.  I can understand that there are legitimate reasons to be nameless on the Internet, but most (if not all of the anonymous) posters are usually whack jobs with nothing to do but stir the pot. 
If these 'reputable' news sites insist on anonymous postings, the least they could do is be a little more selective in what posts go on their sites.

Agreed completely.  If they insist on keeping a comment section on their website (they meaning 4, 12, T-U, etc.), all they would have to do is put in a comment approval process.  You submit a comment, it gets reviewed by a moderator prior to being posted to the website.  Free speech doesn't really apply here, as that requires the assumption that the websites are required to provide a comment section in the first place.  There is nothing written where these websites can't go back to the days where their comment sections didn't exist.  You remove the comment section, you remove the unfavorable connotations about your reader/viewership.  Isn't that a smarter business decision than (in the T-U's case, at least) possibly losing the business of 50 or so racist pot-stirrers?  It can't possibly be that difficult a decision.

[Joe]

How is any of this different than the relationship between Metrojacksonville's articles and this forum?

In the past year or so, this forum has turned into a wasteland of nonsense, as opposed to the front page articles which still tend to be high quality.

I'm sure I'll get some backlash for saying that - but let's be honest here. This forum (and its predecessors) used to feature fairly high-level discussion about urbanism and real estate development. Now it's mostly petty political prattle. This place is only a very tiny step above the TU comments section these days.