Whatever you do, don’t read the comments.

This seems to be a nearly universal attitude among those of us who read things on the internet. The comments beneath an article are frequently cesspools of hatred, misogyny and racism, not to mention horrendous offenses to grammar and syntax. The comments on a YouTube video can be enough to make you fear for the future of the human race.

A number of publications (NPR, Popular Science, The Week and The Guardian) have either eliminated or curtailed comments, because the benefits of opening their pages to the vox populi were outweighed by efforts to police abusive behavior. In an analysis of its own traffic before ending comments, NPR found that only 0.06 percent of its users were commenting, and only 4,300 people were posting 67 percent of all comments.

I rather like hearing from readers, but as someone who writes for online publication, I have been told to do some things with myself that are unmentionable in a family newspaper.

However, I want to invite all book-loving people to an experience in which the comments might be the best part of the reading experience: The Morning News Tournament of Books.

The Tournament of Books is now in its 14th year and will run through to the end of the month. Sixteen books are pitted against one another in a March Madness-style bracket, a different judge rendering a verdict on a different matchup each weekday. The favorites this year include George Saunders’ Booker Prize-winning “Lincoln in the Bardo,” and Jesmyn Ward’s “Sing, Unburied, Sing,” which nabbed the National Book Award.

There are also underdogs from indie publishers, such as my personal favorite, “So Much Blue” by Percival Everett.

Since the tournament’s second year, I have served as co-color commentator with my friend Kevin Guilfoile, a Chicago-based writer. Our job is to offer a little informed pith about the books and the judgment before turning the arena over to our readers, who over the years have become what we call “the commentariat.”

The commentariat are the superfans of the Tournament of Books, who attempt to read all of the competitors before the tournament’s start, who are passionate about books and reading, and who aren’t shy about expressing an opinion.

In other words, my kind of people.

At times, with certain books, or spurred on by a particularly provocative judge’s verdict, the comments will reach into the hundreds, weaving in and out of different takes and opinions, at times threatening to overwhelm one’s capacity to take in information — in which case I remind myself the comments will always be waiting for later.

Comments occasionally get heated or contentious, but one of the more amazing things I’ve witnessed over the years is how the commentariat tend to self-correct when things get out of hand. The editors of the the Morning News are on the job monitoring the action, but very rarely if ever do they have to call foul.

Sociologists and psychologists could probably help explain the phenomenon, how creating a sense of belonging prevents people from befouling the waters with free-floating cruelty and abuse.

The comments have become my favorite part of the tournament, partly because I gain fresh perspectives on the books and partly because when a book I wanted to win goes down in defeat, I know there will be others feeling similar pain.

So it is possible to have internet comment sections that aren’t just lairs for haters. If you like books and good book conversation, check it out.

John Warner is the author of “Tough Day for the Army.”

Twitter @biblioracle

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