I need internet comments.

I've been getting plenty of use out of my digital access to the New York Times. I like reading the articles, I like the variety of content they offer, it's neat! But it's lacking something crucial.

There is no consistent comments section on articles.

Some articles have it, usually the more popular articles, but most don't in my experience and i've been surprised to find that I HATE THAT. Internet comments are the worst, but I feel like i'm missing something without them, if I wanted content, void of any response, i'd read a book. Even the physical newspaper has letters to the editor (Maybe that's somewhere on NYT.com and i'm missing it.) NYT filters most of their comments so it's usually fairly reasonable/spun, but even when it isn't I want that input from other readers,

I want the calm rational arguments, and the insane ranting BS. Even when a super right winger makes a super right wing comment on the leftist Times articles I get a flutter of joy, A coming together of the sides! A place for people to yell at eachother constructively! Something to take away from the bias of the times and add a dash of conservative opinion! I love it, i need it, it's what makes the internet so fantastic. Maybe i've spent to much time on reddit which is 90% about the comments, but I struggle to view web content without that input.

Does anyone else have a similar fascination with internet comments?

Hell no!

Comments on news sites make Youtube commenters look like saints in comparison. Whenever I read a story, I avoid the comments section, just because some ignorant asshole will inevitably say something that'll piss me off. The comments on news articles accentuates everything that's wrong with modern society, and pretty much reinforces every negative stereotype that people claim about Americans.

Meh, it's about 50-50. Sometimes I like to see what other people think (and I usually end up regretting it). Sometimes I just don't even wanna bother because I don't wanna see a bunch of people bitching for the millionth time about the same old shit.

I find the latter specifically tends to apply more when it comes to video game sites. Example: DOES ANYONE ELSE HATE DESTINY? LOLZ

I'm with Random45 on this one. News article comments section seem like the land for radical idealists without any real ideas or masochists masquerading as problem solvers. Either way good luck in finding your fellow venturers into the depths of human suffering known as news comment sections!

You are a broken excuse for a human being.

I'm with the OP on this one. I love reading through all of the internet comments of any posted article or video. I often scroll down to the comments even before finishing the article. And, like the OP, I am disappointed if there is no comment section. In some cases, I'll skip the story or look for it on another website. I find the comments interesting. In a digital world, the comment section reminds me that there are other people out there with viewpoints not my own.

I usually have a morbid curiosity toward them.

No way man, that shit is almost guaranteed to lead me into an argument of some kind if I see a comment that doesn't sit right with me. Not even something that contradicts what I believe, just someone being a dick about something.

@random45: I love how it always degrades into a republican vs democrat thing invariably XD it cracks me up

Except for Giantbomb I do not care about comments anywhere and do not look at them. I don't have the energy to have at it with lunatics from around the globe.

I enjoy my internet comments mostly in the form of bizarre non sequiturs, preferably in 140 characters or less.

Ex:

@univarn: Don't forget conspiracy theorists, proud ignorants and genuine mad people. It's so disheartening to see the comments at anything science related, make less sense than a five year olds boardgame rules.

Nah fuck comments, LETS BURN EM DOWN.

Well most of them. Some can stay.

Definitely not news comments though. Man oh man oh man. That is the bottom of the barrel, no doubt.

These are the comments I crave!

Well yelling can be more constructive than not saying anything, sometimes anyways. It's a stretch.

But I sometimes look at internet comments as raw unfiltered humanity, disturbing at times, scary, dangerous, but occasionally brilliant.

These arguments against news comments in particular I find Odd, at worst, the bad comments are the direct opposite of the opinion in the article. "Obama tries to encourage immigration" followed by "OBAMA IS DESTROYING THIS COUntry WITH IMMIGrANTS" or "Senate shows support for Keystone Pipeline" Followed by "The keystone pipeline is literally the worst and all our senators are literally hitler, stop murdering our babies." Youtube has to be the worst, because no matter the video, no matter the subject, a large volume of comments end up being hate-filled screeds with no apparent target or direction.

I love comments. Especially when it's someone saying something awful and then there's an entire huge conversation between that person and some poor soul who chooses to argue with them. Or the other way around. Or when it's just awful people agreeing with each other. Or when it's nice people having normal conversations and saying funny things.

I love them with complete understanding that they're a waste of time to read. I sometimes think about how many actual books I could have read or skills I could have learned if I had used my time better and it always bums me out. But I'll keep reading them because it's probably the most realistic portrayal of the collection of all humanity. They're more realistic than the shit most news sites post. That could be taken as a bad thing but it at least says that most bad people aren't that productive with their time. They just show obscenities in vague directions and look for people to follow their dumb train of thought.

I'm overcome with the inherently self-defeating need to agree with most here, in these comments, that yes... comments suck.

@t_wester: Aside from cute animals and BBC shows I can't get in the US, most of my YouTube time is dedicated to a bunch of terrific science and math stuff. It's become a little game I play to see how far down I have to scroll before people start yelling at eachother about evolution vs. god. In every... fucking... thing. Magnesium? Polarization? Fermat's last theorem? Doesn't fucking matter. It's ignorant "evolutionists" vs. ignorant "christians" in the most misplaced, saddest debate ever.