Except for this blog, online comments generally suck.

Okay, I’m painting with a broad brush. Speaking from personal experience, I’ve noticed that the hostility of anonymous online “bloggers” is rapidly decaying what should otherwise be rational, productive discourse. This is nothing new.

Bloggers, of course is an inaccurate description. The proper term is anonymous ass clowns.

No, seriously, they should be called commenters, the people who post comments. The blog-writer is rarely responsible for the whorehouse of comments that dwell beneath his post.

Back in the day, around 1984 or so, online comments were a new thing. Most people signed up by creating online accounts, not always using their own names. The anonymity added a protection you couldn’t find anywhere else: Regular people became screaming jerks.

In fact, the common term for such an anonymous commenter is troll, which implies someone who ventures out onto a web site — the site topic doesn’t matter — who doesn’t contribute but does everything possible to needle the other commenters. This person can be a kind, gentle human in real live, but a raging turd online.

I’ve written on this topic before, even posting the cartoon below.

The birth of eternal commenting.

Now major newspapers are waking up and taking action. Why? Because it’s hurting their reputation.

For example, Popular Science discontinued all online comments a few months back. The quality of the comments was degrading the prime content of their articles. I suppose they could have spent lots-o-money to hire online moderators. I don’t see that happening, however.

Good online comments add to the discussion. They help create a community. They can inform and educate. But aside from hiring full-time moderators, how can you encourage that type of activity?

This article by the New York Times explains four ways that online comments can be improved. These suggestions may or may not bear any fruit, but the discussion is necessary.

The alternative, as has recently happened at the Chicago Sun-Times, is that comments are just shut down entirely.

Given the nature of hostility on my small town’s two news blogs (some of which is occasionally directed toward me), I can fully understand why a reputable news organization would halt all online comments.

I believe the way to fix it is pure honesty: If you must sign your name to any letter to the editor then you should also have the guts to sign your name to a blog post. Maybe you should also provide your email or telephone number. That would instantly raise the quality of the comments.

True, some people wouldn’t comment if they had to ‘fess up who they really are. That would diminish the conversation, but not to such a great extent that I believe their absence would be felt.