Letter: A few vicious online commenters ruined it for all

Published 1:30 am Friday, September 23, 2016

I have read a few letters to The Herald lately complaining about the cancellation of the comments section. I would like to respond.

I am a huge fan of Sid Schwab. His views are similar to mine and his columns eloquently address our concerns. I used to go out to comments to tell him that he had, once again, hit it out of the park, and to keep up the good work. Since I wasn’t doing that until evening, when I got home from work, I was weighing in after a whole day’s worth of other people’s remarks had landed there, and by that time, the conversations had descended to ugly mud-slinging. My visits became less of a pat on the back to the columnist and more of an alarmed defense of his views (and mine), in response to hateful ad hominem attacks. I believe that there are some people who must apparently spend their days at their computers, stewing in toxicity and spreading it wherever they can, and the comments section became their home. Sickened by this, I eventually quit visiting there. When the comments section was cancelled, I was not surprised. And it’s really too bad. That page should have been a forum for reasoned discourse, but it was commandeered by foaming-at-the-mouth ideologues, and it had become unhealthy. A few nasty individuals spoiled a place for dialogue. Don’t blame The Herald for this.

Gina Parry

Snohomish