In his "From The Web" column, the Montgomery Advertiser's Terry Manning is bemoaning the nastiness of some readers' comments about Advertiser stories this week. Specifically he focuses on the fighting that broke out at the High School Basketbrawl playoffs on the ASU campus...and about an "Extreme Makover" house being built in the city. And the comments are nasty...the high school players are called "animals", and the neighborhood where the new home is being built is denigrated. Manning called them "racist and borderline-illiterate tirades".
Terry: don't blame the uncouth Talk Radio audience the Advertiser (and many other papers) invited in by adding a "comments" section after each story. I'm sure the newspapers did it as one in a series of last ditch efforts to stay afloat. First of all, it doesn't appear to be working [see previous post] and if you've sullied your reputation badly by doing so, what have you gained? I still say there was nothing wrong with the "letters to the editor" access readers were offered.
The Advertiser has some of the worst people (I suppose they are people) on any site I have ever visited. I'm almost convinced that half the people who leave comments are members of the Klan. The AL.com forums aren't much better.
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