No, seriously, they should be called commenters<\/em>, the people who post comments. The blog-writer is rarely responsible for the whorehouse of comments that dwell beneath his post.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In fact, the common term for such an anonymous commenter is troll<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n I’ve written on this topic before<\/a>, even posting the cartoon below.<\/p>\n The birth of eternal commenting.<\/p><\/div>\n Now major newspapers are waking up and taking action. Why? Because it’s hurting their reputation.<\/p>\n For example, Popular Science<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n 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?<\/p>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/duty_calls.png\")