FORUMS
News sites and forum sites insert the "comments" section at the bottom of the page for the readers. It allows readers to elaborate on the story or voice their own opinion about the topic in question. It is supposed to ad value to the story and increase enjoyment of the reader. My enjoyment is drastically reduced when the aforementioned conditions are not met.
Counterproductive comments. A Vancouver Canucks fan coming onto the Calgary Flames or the Calgary Herald website leaving a comment saying "Calgary Flames Suck" is not productive. Sure the Flames are having a tough year, but we obviously didn't go to the website to see some uneducated fan of a different team voicing their unwarranted (though sometimes truthful) boisterous exclamations. You don't see me going onto the Maple Leafs website talking about how their 9-1 win over Atlanta probably won't happen again this year...
Unnecessary additions. Comedy pairing announcing a show in Toronto with comments like "Come to Ottawa" which is clearly not their intention in the first place. www.jakeandamir.com If they wanted to announce a show to Vancouver, or Sweden or Montreal or Missouri, they would announce it. Thank you Jake and Amir for acknowledging your Canadian fans. And dear Canadian Fans, if you live in Edmonton, you will just have to wait a while longer.
Poor spelling and grammar. Not only are naysayers ruining my reading experience by telling me things I don't want to read and don't care about, but they are commenting negatively without proper grammar! This is not a text message. This is not a casual conversation with your buddy after the game. This is the internet. Oh, and in case you didn't know, anyone with the internet CAN access your ill-advised, poorly worded, rantings - and they DO. "Kippersof is a amazing golie. He is to kewl for the calgery flamers." If this made sense and had factual data to back it, it might be acceptable but in it's current state, let me tell you: it does not.
"First!" That drives me insane. Enough said.
Listen, I get that people want to affirm what a news story is talking about, but keep it to yourself. Going onto the Globe and Mail or New York Times forums to post "that is really horrible" talking about a suicide bomber does not positively affect anyone's day. Everyone knows that terrorism is bad. So thanks for agreeing but affirmation does not necessitate redundancy, and no one in northern Manitoba needs to know that Joe-blow from Oklahoma City agrees with a generally understood fact of life: bad things are bad. (no disrespect if you are from any of these places)
The world has ups and downs and everyone understands that different events affect different people differently. This is what makes everyone individuals. Obviously, it's not reasonable to assume that people aren't going to disagree with what reporters report, or that everyone in a certain area is homogenous in thought or opinion. Forums allow for public discourse and people expressing themselves is what makes a forum a forum. But next time you disCOURSE, please make sure you aren't being disCOURTEOUS.
DKH
