Tablet says charge of $2 a day is not aimed at making money, but at creating ‘a more pleasant and cultivated environment’ for its readers

Dealing with “toxic” commenters is a problem faced by many websites – and must be a particular problem for faith-based publishers.

US-based Tablet, which describes itself as “a daily online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture”, has launched an initiative to prevent the conversation below its articles becoming offensive – it is asking users to pay to comment.

On Monday, it announced that users would have to pay $2 a day, $18 a month or $180 a year to comment on its stories.

Tablet’s editor-in-chief, Alana Newhouse, explained in a blogpost:

We take pride in our community of readers, and are thrilled that you choose to engage with us in a way that is both thoughtful and thought-provoking. But the internet, for all of its wonders, poses challenges to civilized and constructive discussion, sometimes allowing destructive – and, often, anonymous– individuals to drag it down with invective (and worse). Instead of shutting off comments altogether (as some outlets are starting to do), we are going to try something else: Ask those of you who’d like to comment on the site to pay a nominal fee – less a paywall than a gesture of your own commitment to the cause of great conversation.

She added:

The donation rates are small because we are not looking to make money, but instead to try to create a standard of engagement likely to turn off many, if not most, of the worst offenders. All proceeds go to helping us bring you the ambitious journalism that brought you here in the first place.



Newhouse stressed that Tablet – which is owned by the not-for-profit Nextbook Inc – would remain free to read online, and that readers could interact with it via Facebook, Twitter, and our other social media channels, or by writing letters.

Bloomberg switches off comments in website redesign Read more

The move is interesting in the light of recent moves by organisations such as Bloomberg and Reuters to turn off comments on their stories.

The Guardian’s executive editor of digital, Aron Pilhofer, said at last week’s news:rewired conference in London that the trend of switching off reader comments was a “monumental mistake”.

Pilhofer said:

