In our February editorial, we spoke in brief about why we’ve chosen to not include a comments section on our website. This is an issue that cuts to the core of the internet, of questions of balancing freedom of speech and safety. As recent cases like the Twitter harassment trial and the fight about reddit’s fat-shaming discussions have shown, these issues are still very much up for debate in the new online spaces.

On the surface, an active comments section seems like the promise of the internet made real: a space where people of different backgrounds and opinions can come together and speak openly. The traditionally powerful no longer have control of the conversation, and must be held to account by the rest of us.

That’s also the mission of Electric City Magazine. In our opening editorial, we made it our mission to speak up for the disenfranchised and the powerless, and to work to bring together all parts of this community. It’s no coincidence this magazine sprouted up in a post-internet age.

And then there’s the business justification: comments help to increase user engagement and drive traffic to the site – even and often especially when the discussions get ugly.

We’ve seen the value of a comments section first-hand, on our predecessor, Electric City Live. The comments there were often insightful and challenging, providing valuable alternative perspectives – even when their tone wasn’t particularly pleasant. But the discussions, which were all about local music, never truly got out of hand. Electric City Magazine, on the other hand, has already covered lightning-rod topics like sexual assault and indigenous rights.

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We are far from pioneers in nixing online comments. PopSci became the first major online publisher to close comments back in 2013, citing research that contrarian comments tend to muddy the waters about controversial scientific topics like climate change and vaccines. Many, many other major sites have followed: CNN, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Verge, Motherboard…. In Canada, the Toronto Star and Sun Media papers don’t have comments sections, and CBC has closed comments sections on Aboriginal articles.

Most sites justify their decision with a familiar whipping boy: the internet troll. CNN even used a cartoon of a pockmarked green monster in its announcement. But this is too easy an explanation. A true troll, by definition, is a trickster, intentionally posting inflammatory things for the simple joy of being offensive and provoking a reaction. Their words are meaningless, and therefore easily ignored.

The ugliness of internet comments, on the other hand, represents something darker. The anonymity of the internet, the ease of typing something emotional into that little box, and the personal distance of experiencing the world through the filter of a computer screen, all bring out the worst in people. There is true hate in internet comments, deep-seated aggression and sometimes even threats of violence.

This is particularly true when it comes to controversial issues. CNN and Reuters’ decisions to close comments came around the time of the Ferguson riots, and The Verge’s decision was sparked by the ugliness of GamerGate. (The Verge has since reinstated comments, but they are disabled by default and turned on only on a case-by-case basis.) When the CBC closed comments on any article related to indigenous issues, they were getting over a million new comments coming in every month, and 1 in 5 had to be removed for offensive content.

The result is that many people simply do not feel safe on the internet. Aboriginal comedian Ryan McMahon used to be an active internet commenter, engaging his ‘haters’ in fierce debate, but stopped after a group of CBC commenters threatened to “shoot up” one of his shows. On Electric City Magazine, several of our writers specifically asked that we not share their email addresses for fear of harassment, and one writer said they refuse to write for any site that does have a comments section.











If the vitriol of the internet spewed equally in all directions, it might be easier to ignore, but overwhelmingly, it’s directed at the less powerful segments of society: racial minorities, women, queer and trans people, refugees, etc. The very same people who had no voice in traditional media, those who were supposed to be empowered by the internet, are being driven away by bigots and bullies.

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So, what can be done about internet comments? Several solutions have been proposed. Forcing people to log in to comment, or comment with their real names, is one, but that does little to dissuade true bigots. Some sites self-moderate through a voting system, such as is employed by the popular social network reddit – but, as reddit itself has shown, that still leaves the doors open for organized hate and witch hunts. Many sites now employ heavy moderation of their comments section, but this is expensive and labour-intensive.

And no matter the solution, the end result is a less-free comments section. The openness of the internet that inspired us to create comments sections, seems fundamentally incompatible with actually having them.

Thankfully, this same openness also means that comments sections are increasingly obsolete. The most active conversations on the internet happen on social media, where people can engage on a person-to-person level much better than they could by firing off a barb at the bottom of an article.

But still: Electric City Magazine wants our readers to be able to talk back to us directly. In addition to reaching out on Facebook and Twitter, we’ve implemented a letters to the editor feature on our site, which you can see at the bottom of this and every article. Every month, we collect the letters and publish them (with your permission) online and in the print magazine.

Unlike an internet comment, the extra few clicks it takes to write a letter encourages people to think about what they’re writing and choose their words more carefully. (Just take a look at our first letters section and compare it to your average internet comments section to see the difference.) It also allows us to weed out anything offensive.

It’s far from a perfect solution, but for now, it’s what we got.

What do you think of internet comments? Should Electric City Magazine have a comments section? Send us a letter below and let us know.

NOTE: A previous version of this article had out-of-date information about The Verge’s comments policy. It has been updated.

Cover photo by OddurBen, via Wikimedia Commons. Power line photo by Stephanie Cann. Ferguson photo by Loavesofbread, via Wikimedia Commons.