

Why Comments Snark - keyist
http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/01/why-comments-snark.html

======
jacquesm
Authors of blogs and other posts that wonder why comments snark and worry
about this take themselves much too serious.

Not everybody was born a writer and not everybody takes the whole blogging
thing as serious as the bloggers themselves do.

If you put yourself up as a 'public figure' (which essentially every blogger
seems to aspire to) then you're asking for getting some of the downsides that
come with that as well.

Snark is nothing compared to what some of the really famous people have to go
through in life.

Simple advice to those that blog or write for public consumption on the
internet: grow a thick skin.

Learn how to read through the snark and get to the gems embedded in your
comments and reply in measured tones to those who seek to raise their own
profile at your expense.

Never ever let the snarkers pull you down to their level.

~~~
j_baker
I've got thick skin. My readers may not though. As the post points out, the
goal is to get people to post comments that make for a better reader
experience.

~~~
jacquesm
The typical reader of a blog will either read it to the end and leave, make a
comment to say they thought it was a great article or they'll find a single
sentence halfway through reading and they'll pick on that.

The whole format is set up for that, rarely do you see a blog where the
majority of the comments are civil, constructive and to the point.

For that you need a different format, more like a mailing list. And even there
the 'top posting one liner' is a very common response.

A true forum is much more work to maintain because it gives equal standing to
authors and comment writers alike, they change roles from time to time, which
puts the comment writers of yesterday in the position of the author of
tomorrow. Like that they learn more about how it feels to be on both sides and
that in turn will - hopefully - guide them to be better participants.

Then there's a demographic issue, people that are a bit older more likely than
not will think about their response for a bit, the younger the commenter the
bigger the chance it's going to be shorter and / or rude.

I know of one or two teenagers that are active on fora where I am a member as
well, they're the exceptions in that they are excellent contributors, most of
the other ones that I know of are in one word disruptive.

------
dennisgorelik
Comments complement original post by providing opposing opinions on the same
topic. Readers are usually interested to see if there are such opposing
opinions, so it's useful to have such comments to be readily available.

------
joezydeco
<http://www.xkcd.com/386/>

