Online Comments as We Know Them Are Dead: Solutions for Revamping Them

By Nadav Shoval

Online comments: we can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Despite their popularity, the dilemma surrounding commenting systems has been a topic of endless debate, especially when it comes to online publishers. Some claim comments are a staple of a progressive, user-centric blog as they give a voice to readers and ensures that conversations offer multiple approaches.

Others highlight the fact that, in many cases, comments sections are magnets for trolls, spammers, and an array of other annoying Internet abusers.

The persistent nature of many obnoxious commenters has turned more and more people against the comments section. If you have ever visited a typical comments section you probably know what I mean. Oftentimes, even with moderators, you can’t escape the slew of racist, sexist, or offensive comments that seem to plague even the most cutting-edge blogs. Furthermore, the time and stress caused by moderating them does not add to their appeal. For this reason, a growing number of leading online publications are dropping comments altogether.

While this may solve the trolling issue, the problem still stands: What happens to the voice of the readers? How can publishers keep the conversation flowing and create a flourishing online community?

The answer is complex. But in a nutshell, it seems that the most beneficial way to deal with the problems associated with comments is not to kill them, but rather modernize them to fit the needs of both readers and publishers alike. Here’s how:

Employ a Top Comments Feature

More and more, we are seeing a shift in how comments are appearing on top blogs. Whereas before they would appear instantaneously, one after the other, usually in chronological order--now many online publishers seek more control over which comments are most visible.

Obviously, the ones that add to the conversation, help to promote knowledge, and enrich the article are the types of comments that online publishers thrive on. Comments that attack the author or other community members, on the other hand, are not helping a blog to develop a community or increase credibility. Instead, they often scare the insightful users away.

Employing a “Top Comments Feature,” reduces the risk of seeing a comments section dominated by deranged attention-seekers. Instead, readers see only the comments with engagement (i.e., comments with many "likes" and active responses) since they are displayed at the top.

As a result, users have to be actively looking through comments in order to spot the trash instead of arriving at it from the beginning. Of course, there is potential for such a strategy to backfire if users tend to be responsive to controversial posts. However, the likelihood of being bombarded by obnoxious comments is greatly reduced.

Use Automatic Filtering

If you want to take an even harsher stance against trolls, automatic filtering may be a worthwhile approach. Sites such as Lifehacker put comments through an approval system, so that only appropriate ones are visible at first glance. If you wish to see comments that are still pending, the site allows you to do so, but warns about the potential for obscenities. This way, people don’t have to deal with comments that add nothing but nonsense, unless they choose to.

Use Non-Intrusive Communication Tools

By far the best and most modern way of revamping comments is to change up their location and format. After all, who says comments should always appear at the bottom of an article? Why not on the side? In addition, why can’t comments be structured more like natural conversations or notes?

Quartz has paved the way with this new way of thinking by implementing an annotation format. In this new system, users can reply to specific sections, words, or ideas within an article--hopefully encouraging them to add more informative information. In addition, these annotations are opened on the side rather than on the bottom, allowing readers to choose whether or not they want to view the annotations.

Another great alternative is a unique social media-like sidebar. This feature gives users the opportunity to have natural, real-time conversations regarding the articles they read. Not only does it keep readers involved in the dialog, but it also gives them more reason to check out the site to gain an action-packed social experience.

Require Identity

A few studies have shown that the anonymity of being online gives people the confidence to write things they would never say in a person. Therefore, by requiring users to have a name, picture, and/or gravatar, their comments are now associated with them. They can no longer hide behind the computer screen because people could potentially associate their nasty comments with their face. While this is in no way full proof, it certainly is useful for throwing off a portion of the cruel comments blogs often receive.

There’s no denying that comments add tremendous value to sites. With them, you engage users and allow them to play an active role in your site. Unfortunately, they have been getting a bad rap in recent years, but as we have seen, there are ways to take comments back and make them relevant once again. This way, you no longer have to live in fear and can instead enjoy the opportunity to build a thriving online community.