For a long time, the internet has been a place where anonymous people could make whatever comments they wished. No matter how racist, homophobic, sexist, or otherwise hateful the comments were, they could still post them for everyone to see. People could be threatened with rape or death. People's children or pets could be threatened. People could post things that were just stupid or without one shred of evidence.
However, certain places are beginning to put a stop to this. YouTube has announced they will be changing the way comments are handled. Popular Science is disabling comments altogether. Other places are now demanding that people use their names before commenting, hoping this will stop some of the problems. I really don't think this last one will work very well. The internet has emboldened the jackassery of the world and most of these people now proudly spew their special brand of crazy like it's some kind of honor.
A lot of people are complaining about these changes. They believe that people should be allowed to say whatever they wish and that this is somehow a violation of freedom of speech. We've talked about this before. Freedom of speech means that you can say most things and the government really can't legally come and lock you up. It doesn't mean you have the right to come into my house, insult me, and not expect to get kicked out. I will kick you out. It's my house and I have a right to decide what happens there.
By the same token, YouTube and Popular Science have a right to decide what will be allowed on their areas. Both have reason to want people to return to their sites and more people will return to a place where they don't have to wade through idiotic comments or worry about being abused/threatened. YouTube needs people to post videos. How many people are stopping themselves from posting because they don't want to have to deal with the insults and threats that may follow?
Beyond that, I think this trend towards people curbing the trolls on their sites is more about a way to allow the internet to mature and become a civilized place. Right now, being on some sites is like going to a restaurant and getting placed at a table next to a screaming child. No matter how much you want to enjoy yourself, no matter how good your company, there is still that screaming child at the table next to you, ruining the whole experience.
In the same way that I am happy when restaurants will ask the parents of the screaming child to leave, I'm happy that these websites are now doing something about the annoyance of their comment sections. If it is a toss up between the nice pleasant people and the ones who are ruining it for everyone, choose to side with the polite people. It's best we don't feed the trolls . . . or the screaming children.
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