Books May 15, 2013 at 4:00 am

The More You Ignore Me Is One Long, Monstrous Comment on a Cooking Blog

Comments

1

Always suspicious when one media (long form text) criticizes another (short form text).
2
Said without a hint of awareness of irony.
3
#2

You talking to me?

Observation basically not criticism and hence falls out of the self referential recursion you are implying.

Another example is "Network" a movie (and book) about television. In general when one medium criticizes another it also goes overboard and demonizes the new and competitive medium. A Star Is Born played out on a McLuhanesque stage.
4
If you hate trolls on your site, delete their comments and ban them, or disable comments entirely. I don't understand why anyone puts up with them as if they're some sort of "unstoppable inevitability".
5
I don't know why "legitimate" * news sources allow comments. If people have strong feelings about an issue or article, they should be required to write a coherent Letter To The Editor, just like int the old days.

And I do mean old days: they should have to mail it in.

* I do not consider Slog legitimate.
6
After the last few day at war to the knife with The Misanthrope over on the street harassment thread, I reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllllyyyyyyy needed to hear this. My poor husband spent last night trying to get me to sleep by repeating over and over,
"Everyone on that thread agrees with you. No one agrees with him." LOL
But yeah, he's a person. A deeply unpleasant person on line, but a person none the less, so thank you for helping me remember that.
7
I love Travis Nichols - before he left, he was the one Seattle poet that I wanted to host at a reading, but never got around to. He was a big supporter of Subtext too.
8
@ 4 - I agree with you. Some of the best comments sections I've read have done not only this, but have also deleted off-topic comments, as well.

What results is a really interesting comment thread, with well-thought out ideas and a discernible trajectory of process, assimilation and growth re: the subject.

It seems/sounds controlling and the quality of the moderator is absolutely key to the effectiveness of the thread, of course; but it's actually refreshing to have the comments section resemble the energetic discourse of a night out with peers - you may not always agree, but the conversation is lively, thought-provoking and (relatively) insult free.
12
Real writers (ie paid writers) who write above comment threads (should) think of their work as someone driving a boat out on the Sound. You dodge deadheads and go where you're going. Then the sea creatures frolic in your wake. Some of those creatures are wondrous and some of them are truly abhorrent, but it's your wake they're all in. And when you're on a break from your work you can go frolic in someone else's wake, completely unedited and deadline free.
13
@CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON:
FOR SOMEONE SO IN TOUCH WITH THE ONLINE WORLD, I MUST ASK: WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT EVERYBODY? Caps Lock stuck or something? Jesus Christ.
14
If reader comments were taken seriously, then they would push writers to, overall, write better.
-inaccuracies are noticed
-writers get to see if and how their work is contributing to society (dialog within the readership base)

@CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON: dude, you Caps Lock is stuck. And I for one would consider 3 post for one article to constitute spam...or at the very least a rant. I would also consider people like you who essentially hijack a board to be a big part of the problem.
16
CHRISTOPHER ALLAN HORTON in the comment thread on the review to this book is the most meta metashit that's ever meta'd some meta.

I read this book. It was supremely uncomfortable to read, which I think was (at least part of) the point. However, it was also very good.

Please wait...

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