Online comments are an interesting phenomenon. In some communities, you can find interesting discussions. In others, there’ll be positive and helpful messages. But in certain parts online, you might find people saying things that normally shouldn’t be said. I would say that this is more so based on the type of audiences that different platforms/communities gather.
If you view one video on Instagram Reels and the exact same video on TikTok, chances are that the comments section on Instagram will have more polarizing comments than Tiktok. If you’re on a political subreddit, you’ll probably encounter fewer empathetic folks compared to somewhere like cute animals subreddit.
Back in the early 2010’s, you could just say that problematic comments on the internet are just due to trolls. Now I’m starting to feel that that’s not quite always the case anymore. Sure, there’s still the odd comment here or there that is definitely a troll, but there are also organized groups of people who drop comments made from a pool of dogmatic beliefs.
The point being that not all negative and offensive comments are just negative and offensive comments. Some of these comments push an agenda, a larger idea beyond just starting petty arguments. Which is likely more problematic compared to a run of the mill troll.
As for what can be done about this, well I’m not too sure. Comment moderation is a reactive measure that removes the offending comment, but that is more of a band aid solution. An ideal solution would be a proactive measure that prevents these sorts of comments from occurring in the first place. But if that is promoted through the form of a system preventing comments from being made, then that’s just censorship but with a ribbon tied to it.
I suppose a more proper solution would be something that affects the commenters themselves, rather than their comments. Consider something like the video seen in class today about empathy. If commenters had more empathy, we could probably cut back on a lot of problematic online comments. Now getting these commenters to have more empathy, that’s the true challenge.
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