Read Only...

Virginia Hefferman put up a really good blog post on the state of blog post commentary in the NYTimes this morning, Comment is King.

With the proliferation of comment functionality on almost every piece of online content, Virginia presents a good overview of the quality or lack there of shown in the musings of those who find time to 'comment' on other's work or opinions.

She discusses the comments posted on Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Applebaum's columns in the Washington Post and Slate.

Sadly, her conclusions are pretty spot on. Most comments fall into the category of either a lame rehash or echo of the content being commented on, or they are rants and musing that have little value. Rarely are the good ones able to shine through.

"This echo-chamber effect is unpleasant, and it makes it hard to keep listening for the clearer, brighter, rarer voices nearly drowned out in the online din. Which is too bad: newspaper journalism benefits from reader comments."

I guess the democratization of journalism has its downsides.

BTW...be sure to read the comments on her post.