I've noticed that many Catholic (and other) websites have stopped allowing comments underneath them.
We've heard all the well-rehearsed arguments against comment boxes, but I'm honestly wondering...have they been killed by political correctness?
Are the views of the "commentariat", including the Catholic and conservative commentariat, now so divergent from most of the readers that the difference is simply too jarring to expose? I've noticed that, when there are comments, they are usually significantly more "right-wing" than the article or video, if it's in any way mainstream.
I think that any popular blog has the problem of choosing between heavily moderating the comments and having a combox that is a snakepit of ad hominems, false accusations, foul language etc. Look at Rod Dreher's semi regular statement that he has a great community of commenters, but only because hours of moderation go into it. This is not necessarily targeting views one disagrees with. I rarely come away from a combox feeling like it was worth the trip.
ReplyDeleteI'd agree with you though about a sense that on Catholic blogs etc. there's a shift away from a centre (which I often find wishy washy, although I disagree with the more right-wing/traddy comments too)
Hope you're keeping well, long time no chat by the way!
Definitely agree about the drift from the centre. I am part of that drift! It seems to be happening in the secular as well as the Catholic world, but in the Catholic world I think the synods on the family, and the stuff that happened afterwards, have convinced a lot of people that the centre was illusory anyway.
DeleteI am doing well, look forward to catching up some time!