Don't Read the Comments

NPR shut down comments altogether on its site more than three years ago. Seattle Times reporter Mike Rosenberg reminded us all of these facts:

• 67% of comments came from just 4,300 people. 
• 87% of commenters were male. 
• 99.94% of readers never posted a comment in a typical month

Another Twitter user responded to Rosenberg's tweet with those stats, saying that when another site he helped run shut down comments,

We worried that turning off the comments would kill the community. And yeah, it killed whatever was growing there, but looking at the web today I'm convinced that comments sections are not communities. They're alleys where the trash isn't picked up often enough.

For most sites, that analogy of an alley that's not taken care of is pretty apt. It doesn't take a lot of trash for most people of good will to abandon an area that's clearly not being taken care of, let alone one where you don't feel safe.