[This was published in German as “Die Trolle
Werden Aussterben” in the October 23 2015 edition of ZEIT
Wissen]
We are told “Don’t read the comments” because doing so can lead to
despair. Even the most innocent of topics can prompt rancor, to say
nothing of controversial matters. Thus, I was recently surprised to see
delighted tweets about online comments that were “worth
as much and more than the article” itself. The article was Jess
Zimmerman’s “‘Where’s
My Cut?’: On Unpaid Emotional Labor”, and the comments were part of
a month
long discussion on MetaFilter, the fifteen year old link sharing and
discussion site.
“Where’s My Cut?” followed the premise of #GiveYourMoneyToWomen.
This controversial hashtag accompanied claims that women’s valuable time
and energy were often expected to be given for free. Zimmerman gave her
own example of acting as a counselor to her heartbroken male friends:
“It’s something I’m happy to do for the people I care about, but it is
not effortless.” Her complaint was about the “emotionally lazy” men who
feel entitled to those efforts, and this struck a nerve. At MetaFilter,
over two thousand comments were posted between July and August 2015.
Over four hundred commenters discussed examples of emotional labor,
including remembering in-laws’ birthdays, scheduling social events, and
sending out holiday cards.
Content aside, it was remarkable that such a conversation could
happen without being overtaken by haters and trolls. This was an edgy,
feminist topic that could’ve easily devolved into rancor and harassment.
But it didn’t, and this is a cause for some optimism.
Did MetaFilter deploy some fancy new technology? No. Instead, the
sites makes use of social insights and human effort. MetaFilter requires
a one-time, five dollar membership fee; this prevents drive-by haters
and spammers, and it likely increases user commitment. MetaFilter is a
community, one with long-lasting members, that has norms and policies.
For example, these kind of conversations are only open for a month. (As
the deadline neared, I saw tweets counting down the time: “less
than 24 hours to go before comments close and [it] is still great”.)
And it is moderated. As former MetaFilter moderator Jessamyn
West recently wrote: “Having threads that close, having moderators
that redirect entrenched disagreements, giving users timeouts …, all of
those can help a community reset and get back on track.” Unfortunately,
these “time-tested strategies” also require human attention, which can
be costly. As author Clay Shirky once
quipped, “Comment systems can good, big, cheap—pick two.”
The (slowly emerging) innovation here is one of insight, not
technology. The notion of online forums as free-speech zones often
leads, metaphorically, to a platform being little better than a
over-grown, tire-strewn lot. A successful
garden needs fencing, weeding, and nourishment. As it is in the real
world, so it is online. We face a brighter future online if we remember
that actual people must cultivate community and that technology is but a
tool, much as a spade and hoe are to a gardener.
— Joseph Reagle is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University
and author of Reading
the Comments: Likers, Haters, and Manipulators at the Bottom of the
Web.
There are comments.