:: netwoman's blog ::

More on (Flaming) Comments

I talked about bloggers deleting comments on their posts the other day, and the issue of censorship, gender and the value of one's voice in the Blogosphere. Now I am thinking of something else.

I have a few blogs that I visit regularly, some with overt 'feminist' content. I enjoy these blogs and the critical reflections on the world. While I might not always agree with the content, I still like the opportunity to think about the issues at hand.

What I don't like to read much anymore are the negative comments. Now, I don't mean comments that intelligently reflect on the material, or engage in the conversation in an analytical way. No. I mean the negative, personal, anti-feminist, anti-women, anti-everything comments. I have decided that on certain blogs - I just can't read the comments anymore. It is painful, frustrating and draining. It is really too bad.

Comments that are often posted at Misbehaving or Feministe are often compelling and interesting - but more often then not, (Misbehaving in particular), they are disturbing, upsetting and frustrating. I am censoring or rather moderatoring what I am blog reading.

I would add these items to Glenn's list: Personal attacks directed at the blogger. These include name calling (questioning their sexuality and accusations of man-hating). Threats of violence. Most negative comments are intended not to critically engage with the material - but rather put women in their place. It would be interesting to make some empirical comparison between the types of negative comments that male and female bloggers receive.

Here are feministe's comments:

"A great majority of post-skimmers, the people who cruise though and see one post that for whatever reason ticks them off, have a tendency to get personal, calling me a "welfare piece of shit mom" or insist that what I really need to get off my high horse is a really good lay. No pun intended.

I'm saying that as prudently as I can, and, of course, they themselves are the person to give me that big ol' phallus that will obviously change my mind about the state of gendered relations. The death threats earlier this year by a mentally ill teenager in England didn't surprise me either, although his violence toward me was somewhat unsettling. I'm just running a website, man, not trying to emotionally or physically castrate men, contrary to popular opinion."

So, I am not surprised that some bloggers at Misbehaving decide to turn off the comment option. Who wants to be repeatedly slammed and harassed about their reflections on the world, or their own experiences. It gets tiring.

posted by Netwoman @ 10:45 AM