Some comment sections are enlightening, some are depressing, and many — according to Popular Science — are actively hurting the scientific community. In a post today, the online wing of the magazine explained its decision to close down commenting on new articles, though comments on old ones will remain. “Comments can be bad for science,” writes online editor Suzanne LaBarre. The reason isn’t just that some commenters are unpleasant, and LaBarre takes pains to stress that much of the site’s community is excellent. “But even a fractious minority wields enough power to skew a reader’s perception of a story, recent research suggests,” she says, citing studies that find the tone of some comments, even if they’re not in the majority, diminishes the credibility of articles.
via The Verge
