Well, silly trolls had to ruin this for the science nerds. Yesterday, the online version of Popular Science discontinued the comment section…
It wasn’t a decision we made lightly. As the news arm of a 141-year-old science and technology magazine, we are as committed to fostering lively, intellectual debate as we are to spreading the word of science far and wide. The problem is when trolls and spambots overwhelm the former, diminishing our ability to do the latter.
That is not to suggest that we are the only website in the world that attracts vexing commenters. Far from it. Nor is it to suggest that all, or even close to all, of our commenters are shrill, boorish specimens of the lower internet phyla. We have many delightful, thought-provoking commenters…
A politically motivated, decades-long war on expertise has eroded the popular consensus on a wide variety of scientifically validated topics. Everything, from evolution to the origins of climate change, is mistakenly up for grabs again. Scientific certainty is just another thing for two people to “debate” on television. And because comments sections tend to be a grotesque reflection of the media culture surrounding them, the cynical work of undermining bedrock scientific doctrine is now being done beneath our own stories, within a website devoted to championing science.
There are plenty of other ways to talk back to us, and to each other: through Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, livechats, email, and more. We also plan to open the comments section on select articles that lend themselves to vigorous and intelligent discussion. We hope you’ll chime in with your brightest thoughts. Don’t do it for us. Do it for science. “
I do not even engage in discussion with a lot of the science deniers that get their information from political agendas cruising social media, anymore. I just scroll right by that nowadays…
But, I do wonder, why so many of these deniers who cry, “What about the children?” when they talk about deficits and debt do not apply that thought to things like the environment and climate change.
A win for the wingnuts! This is a mistake. They will take away that the heft of their rants closed out the comments. Those of us with a little discipline all know how to flow past trolls. Meaningful discussion is shut out. The trolls will gravitate to the clan sites for confirmation and be even less informed.