Deadspin
To keep the comments as fresh and outstanding as they've been up to this point, we've commissioned Commenting Guru Rob Iracane, co-editor of Walk Off Walk, to write a bi-weekly Comment Ombudsman column. It runs every other week. This is that week.
Mr. Iracane is the guy who approves and deletes comments around here, and the fellow to whom you should address any comment account requests, and he will explore issues involved in commenting, what makes a great comment thread, what's working, what isn't, answer your questions, so on. We want the place to continue to be as much fun as it is every day, and it's not an execution thread like our friends at Gawker do. We like to be inclusive here, because if we're not, we'd be forced to rely on our own wit and knowledge, and that's a scary thought indeed.
So here's this week's column, in which last week's comments by Bob Costas are discussed. Of course, don't be afraid to let him have it in the comments.
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There's been much uproar and hullabaloo in the sportsblogosphere about Bob Costas' anti-blogger screed in the Miami Herald. Costas is the latest in a line of several old media types who have come out against modern communication technology. Who among us could forget Bill Conlin's pompous and bloviating words against Internet bloggers, er, I mean pamphleteers. Way to stay relevant, Bill. Or who doesn't remember the time Schrutebag instigated a DOS attack on The Big Lead? Sure, anyone who prefers Lost over The Sopranos is a boob but that doesn't mean you're allowed to shut his blog down, Colin. There are two differences here, though: (1) Conlin and Cowherd are attacking bloggers, but Costas is attacking the anonymous commenter and (2) Costas is nearly correct.
Anonymous commenting on newspaper websites is the new Wild West, but instead of six-shooters, the commenters are armed with stupidity. And unfortunately, stupidity is contagious. Unless a forum is moderated, this stupidity is allowed to seep through wires and routers and reach a much larger audience than Steve Johannes Gutenberg intended when he invented movable type. Stupidity plus impassioned fandom will always produce an awful comment. But does any of this matter? Let's take a look. Costas specifically mentions Dan Le Batard's column as a launching point for stupidity:
(Now) that pathetic get-a-life loser can piggyback onto someone who actually has some level of professional accountability and they can be comment No. 17 on Dan Le Batard's column. That, in most cases, grants a forum to somebody who has no particular insight or responsibility.
I've gone and pulled the seventeenth comment from each of Le Batard's last four columns on the Miami Herald website:
Huh? Costas is right: a forum has been granted to people with no insight or responsibility. But what Bob doesn't realize is that nobody is taking these comments seriously except the idiots who are commenting. Yes, I'm taking these out of context, but look, two of the columns couldn't even garner ten comments! Go ahead and click through to read all the comments on the columns; they won't make any sense in context either. This is not a forum upon which any reasonable person in the entire world is basing their opinions. Anonymous Internet commenting is not creating new personalities that people trust; responsible readers expect some sort of body of work before they will consider someone's opinion.
The one thing that most traditional media companies don't understand is that comment sections need moderation. Deadspin is somewhat moderated; you need to audition to become a full-fledged commenter. If Gawker Media had opened the floodgates when they first put commenting on Deadspin and their other blogs, we would never have been able to create comedy pyramids without a whole lot of noise. Getting a commenter account isn't impossible, but not just anyone can stumble on an blogpost here and immediately 'piggyback' on Will's "level of professional accountability." The Miami Herald is slowly figuring this out. Maybe someday every online news outlet will have moderated comments; until then, I'm happy to stay at Deadspin where we commenters provide responsible insight to important topics every single day.
These commenters, however, avoided Bob Costas' stink-eye with their Comments of the Fortnight:
•Re: Cape Cod League's copyright dispute with MLB
Gourmet Spud: This reminds me of that famous case from the Negro Leagues, Major League Baseball v. Chicago Whites Suck Baseball Club.
•Re: Eliot Spitzer Night in Georgia
Suss—: Also, for one night, the team will change its name to the Macon Babies.
•Re: The aforementioned Costas freakout
Bob Loblaw: Why does mom's basement always get such a bad rap? Peter King writes his columns from the shitter.
Comments
First!
Take that Bob
/fights urge to write "First!"
thank god that the filter here makes sure that only the good poop and dick (and poopdick) jokes make it through.
Uhhh....Rob? If you are over here, who is watching The 700 Level...?
I don't think there is a Cinderella this year, but if there is one it's Gonzaga.
@Sir Hotbod Handsomeface: the fun part of having no impulse control.
... the commenters are armed with stupidity. And unfortunately, stupidity is contagious.
This reminds me... where's Rejected Commenter Theater?
That headshot is from his guest-starring role as Unscrupulous Prosecutor # 2 on a 1988 L.A. Law episode.
You don't know how much I've suffered because of Doug's unwillingness to love.
Get a life.
I think I forgot to close a tag or something.
Iracane's right people! The Sopranos was far superior to Lost.
I'm still mystified that he held up LeBatard as an icon of respectability.
It's Bob Costas Day! Whee!
Is it bad that I spent some time trying to figure out what "only 9 comments" had to do with the article subjects?
ok i've said it once I'll say it twice: Bob Costas is a Sanctimonious Fuck, and a dwarf.
Slap his mug up on media approval ratings and watch. I do like some of his long form stories, but sometimes I feel that he thinks he is above the game.
@Rob Iracane: Future reference, when you put a link on "is a boob" I expect a boob.
Or two.
Preferably two.
More would be ok too.
The only reason we know Costas/Conlin/etc. is alive is when they say something dumb about teh interweb
Comment no. 17 at Walkoff Walk always wins an In-N-Out gift card.
I can't wait for Costas' prostitute choking sex scandal to be revealed. Not because of his anti-blogger rant, but because he looks like a douche.
I'm on the fence about commenting here. I don't know what Nibbles is up to, so I might be somewhere near 17
also in the news, I am alive.
thanks for having me.
i prefer Lost.
@BigJimSlade: Rejected comment theater has been relocated to the little plus sign next to my name. You'll find plenty of stupid, unfunny shit there
@Tracy Ham and Eggs: our 17th comment, ladies and gentlemen
@Tracy Ham and Eggs: Uh oh. Comment 17! Only idiots want to see boobs.
/chastises self
Costas is going to be looking at this site a lot more often if pictures of him from 1992 are going to be up three times a day.
@supermike5alive: Dear God in Heaven.
You know what this site needs? More posts about Bob Costas.
Bob Costas can slurp shit through his grandmother's cigarette holder.
Nothing like a little pre-canned column to stay topical and timely.
@Rob Iracane:
I think it's cute that you and Will coordinated your posts like that.
A man must be at least 5' tall to call me a loser.
(Women must be 4'6")
WAIT! Bill Conlin is pompous??
two of the columns couldn't even garner ten comments!
Oh and I thought it was a coincidence that twice the 17th comment was about how there wasn't very many comments up to that point. Bah and who says stupid is contagious.
Commenting on blogs is so bourgeois.
@Rob Iracane: Fun. But not as fun as, "Jim Nantz Day."
@supermike5alive: That kid is back on the escalator again...
@supermike5alive:
Did you get banned again?
Hopefully ABC will throw enough money at JJ Abrams that he'll scrap his original idea for the end of the series and add a couple extra great seasons just like The Sopranos did.
Midget Porn > Costas
Idea for next week's column: Not All White People Look Like John Edwards.
"Deadspin is somewhat moderated"
Indeed. Somewhat.
@Tebow2007: Costas is midget porn.
@BigTenObsession: i did not get banned. i was forcibly removed for being too awesome.
same thing happened to me at the bar last night!
Did Will ask Bob what he thinks of "star" commenters? He's got to have a higher opinion of them than of us regular commenters. They've got stars! They're superior!
@Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies: "/chastises self"
Dude, lock the door if you're gonna do that.
Mom has some of her awesome oatmeal cookies coming out of the oven upstairs. Otherwise, I would totally weigh in and give that short guy a piece of my mind.
@UeckersEats: Costas is a result of midget porn.
@Sir Hotbod Handsomeface: @Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies: My utter lack of anything better to do got me #1 and #17. And with that I think I will retire from this post.