Green

Almost, I think.

A bit harsh to say it is aimed at just sectarian trolls. Having been extricated from /insert your favourite pejorative-or-not term for Northern Ireland here/ I find it helpful that someone else aggregates the news from where I was born for me.

The comments are a dead loss most times, with the SpinFeinPolice patroling, the RedWhiteBlueRinsers rising to their coreographed on-song messaging.

I agree perhaps the medium isn’t suited for what it has now become, though the push-button news-collecting perhaps might survive in weblog format.

Maybe it is trying too hard to be all things? I use it not for any commentary at all (wrt the troll’s dingy dens) but for stories I may have missed. (Still having a notional interest in the bizarre political dance that plays out across my beloved home soil.)

The interweb hasn’t democratised society, it has given an outlet to more of the fringe nutjobs who hold sway in their areas. They shout loudest, always have. At least now, in this light, we can see the trolling and bigotry.

I don’t think Slugger (nor, by extension, Mick) can be blamed for the trouts that foul up our beautiful land. But I agree with your broad brushstrokes.

???

I like how you can’t even answer the main question without spamming my site with a link to your own. (Or have I missed the part where that link is relevant?)

Stephen,

That’s largely because I couldn’t see a main question. The link was simply a disproof of your old, re-hashed news aggregation nonsense.

As for the quality of comments, I don’t really have an argument against it. Other than to note that at the volumes of traffic we have the civility that was once routinely exercised has gone in the heat of some of the nasty stuff we’ve been dealing with recently.

When it first when up, we had a lot of reasoned and reasonable arguments there. And from time to we still do - which is the primary reason I’ve stayed my hand from switching them off. The current hiatus is a delight for me.

When we have had sustained periods where we have switched them off, it has resulted in a drop in readership of about 10 - 15%. I agree that the comments is important, but it’s not the heart of the site. Nor is it the main pull.

Now, I’m not claiming that Slugger doesn’t act as a news aggregator. Clearly that is part of its general appeal to specialised readers. With the readership still growing, despite a major drop off in the global interest in NI, it is probably very good at doing just that.

Now to this:

Slugger largely posts news items that are of interest to sectarian trolls, this drives the comments which in turn drives up the numbers. Slugger seeks power (in terms of a website, hits are power) by appealing to the prejudice of the masses (sectarianism in NI). QED?

Well, you’re right. It doesn’t stand up. Why? Because it is not an argument. I set the site up to take “Notes on Northern Ireland politics and culture”. It’s a serious (as opposed to a frivolous provincial) mission. And it has taken me some places I’d rather not have been.

Indeed, I’d rather be reporting on how it comes that raw sewerage is pumped into Ballyholme and Carnalea. And what government is going to do about it. Such a focus would undoubted move all of us away for the repetitive story lines of the past. But instead we have people being burned out of their homes in Ballymurphy, and wee girls being ‘disappeared’ on the Ards peninsula.

If you don’t care about those things, then give Slugger the slip. Just don’t go there. The great thing about the net is that you can do just that. But I will say this, that burying your head in the sand doesn’t make sectarianism disappear. What did for the Jews in Holland was the indifference of the general populace. What saved them in Denmark was general engagement.

Choose your side, and take it from there. I know where I stand!

The thing about saving the world from the Nazis would make more sense if Slugger did something constructive with the comments. Intentions are one thing, but the practice on Slugger is something entirely different - long comment threads of sectarian bile with no purpose other than to show big numbers in the sidebar.

Eh? Sorry, I had mistaken this thread for an argument. You’re just spray shooting here Stephen. I’ve shared my considered opinion with ‘data’ to back up my own position. It would make for a novel departure if you could show some industry here. A little grace under fire wouldn’t go amiss either.

What do you suggest I might do with the comments to make them more constructive for instance?

Mick, important tactical observation: I’m not under fire, your website Slugger O’Toole is (which I believe is a separate entity to yourself, but who knows).

I’m not spray shooting, I’ve made my point pretty clearly for 10 minutes work of an evening. And if you read the post above you’ll see:

If it were the case that the comments on Slugger were in some way marshalled to a conclusion, summarised or used to produce some editorial — if some, any, insight was mined from the comments by the site owners — then my argument would be without foundation.

Which is a hint as to what you could do to make things more constructive.

The rest about me not showing any industry is fine, I don’t show any industry here — but then I’m not begging people for money…

Awwww come on… I just got the jelly and custard!!!

Come to think of it, was this just a shameless provocation to get the numbers up? A cynical entertainment for the masses? You old demogogue you!!