Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Bad Move: PopularScience.com Shuts Down Its Comments

Anyone who has been around the Internet for a while knows about the trolls and loons who haunt many sites.

PopularScience.com's explanation of why it will no longer allow comments, however, goes beyond issues of civility. 
If courtesy is the issue, why not just exclude comments that are rude but permit ones which, however unconventional or even odd, are politely stated?

Because they want the "correct" opinions.

Bad move. 

3 comments:

Dan in Philly said...

I heard the interview where NPR discussed this decision. All I could think was this will allow them to present their reports without the benefit of a critical response, which was at one time one of the very founding blocks of the scientific community.

I know their studies can still be criticized externally, but this really does not seem to be in the spirit of the enlightenment.

Michael Wade said...

Dan,

It would not surprise me if this amounts to a move by people who tilt primarily to the Left to exclude criticism by conservatives.

Michael

Dan in Philly said...

Michael, my thoughts exactly. For the past 50 + years, conservative thought has been challenged so regularly it has made true conservatives somewhat immune to it.

On the other hand, those who espouse a leftist viewpoint, in my experience, are more used to uncritical praise for their views, even if the specifics of their logic and science is suspect.