Apple News - Why No Comments?

[Vanilla35]

Just curious, why does Apple not allow comments in their Apple News app? Admittedly I don't use it very often, but when I do, and rarely stumble upon a thoughtful article; I find myself lacking that interaction that comes from reading comments.

Anyone feel the same way? I'm guessing this is just another way of Apple preventing mayhem in the comment section, but I genuinely like to learn from people's comments rather than become enraged by them.

 

[willmtaylor]

Just curious, why does Apple not allow comments in their Apple News app? Admittedly I don't use it very often, but when I do, and rarely stumble upon a thoughtful article; I find myself lacking that interaction that comes from reading comments.

Anyone feel the same way? I'm guessing this is just another way of Apple preventing mayhem in the comment section, but I genuinely like to learn from people's comments rather than become enraged by them.

My take? Everyone doesn’t need a voice. Everyone’s voice doesn’t matter. The news is written and curated, primarily, by people paid to do so.

If the news forums on here prove anything, it’s that far too many people want to talk but have nothing to say.

Let’s just let the news be news. If one wants to discuss it with someone, he can do it with family, friends, or co-workers, and if he is just really itching to argue with strangers, he can hop on over to MRF PRSI.

Finally, the logistics of policing such feedback and comment would be monstrous. Just ask the MRF mods.

 

[Vanilla35]

My take? Everyone doesn’t need a voice. Everyone’s voice doesn’t matter. The news is written and curated, primarily, by people paid to do so.

If the news forums on here prove anything, it’s that far too many people want to talk but have nothing to say.

Let’s just let the news be news. If one wants to discuss it with someone, he can do it with family, friends, or co-workers, and if he is just really itching to argue with strangers, he can hop on over to MRF PRSI.

Finally, the locigistics of policing such feedback and comment would be monstrous. Just ask the MRF mods.

Agree with most of that. I would also agree with the bold sentence above, but only 30% or so of the articles on these modern "news" apps are just snippet stories. They're not news at all, and that's why commentary would add more to the experience. Just feels cut short to me. Maybe most people don't care though.

 

[NoBoMac]

You can always use the "Open in Safari" share sheet to see comments for articles that do have a comments section. Key phrase being "do have" as, imo, seems like sites are turning off comments sections entirely or on a per article basis more and more.

 

[gsmornot]

Just curious, why does Apple not allow comments in their Apple News app? Admittedly I don't use it very often, but when I do, and rarely stumble upon a thoughtful article; I find myself lacking that interaction that comes from reading comments.

Anyone feel the same way? I'm guessing this is just another way of Apple preventing mayhem in the comment section, but I genuinely like to learn from people's comments rather than become enraged by them.

It takes time to adjust what you see. You have to tell it what you want to see, what you like, subjects you’re interested in. Tell it when you don’t like something and when you do. Over time what you see becomes more of what you like to read about.

 

[trifid]

Just curious, why does Apple not allow comments in their Apple News app? Admittedly I don't use it very often, but when I do, and rarely stumble upon a thoughtful article; I find myself lacking that interaction that comes from reading comments.

Anyone feel the same way? I'm guessing this is just another way of Apple preventing mayhem in the comment section, but I genuinely like to learn from people's comments rather than become enraged by them.

I agree, I find myself missing comments on some articles and I’m considering reducing my use of Apple news for this reason.

 

[upnorth85]

I would love comments too. Most publications that want a spin, do not want to see comment section in the news. CNBC had comments for years but stopped it some 2 years back. Now they can spin it the way they want with no one able to point out inaccuracies. NYT, rarely allows comments on immigration related news. WSJ used to allow comment on all articles, now they open up comments in only a few articles. Apple could actually engage iphone users by adding comments.

 

[colodane]

I like the simplicity and single focus of not having comments.

 

[NT1440]

I think Apple wants to avoid entirely the crowd of neo-nazis and ****-stirrers that tend to infect any and all comment sections they can.

 

[CTHarrryH]

I'd rather not have comments. I"d probably stop using if there were.

 

[I7guy]

I'm actually glad there are no comments. Some blogs that allow comments, some of the comments are off the rails.

 

[Digger148]

It goes against the whole Screen Time thing. *wink, wink* I like that Apple News is like a springboard to either visit the Web to discover more or discuss, face to face, something you've read with real, live human beings, or, take what I've read while spending quality time in the restroom and get on with my day.

 

[NoBoMac]

I like the simplicity and single focus of not having comments.

This.

I too like it as I have been using RSS feed apps for years now, and like that Apple News is basically a RSS feed. Can scan quickly for the interesting stuff, and don't have to dive into the potential cesspool of comment section if got what I need from the article itself.

 

[Vanilla35]

I think Apple wants to avoid entirely the crowd of neo-nazis and ****-stirrers that tend to infect any and all comment sections they can.

Agreed, they mainly seem to come up in political articles. There are a lot of upset people in the country, hence, Trump.

I like the simplicity and single focus of not having comments.

It goes against the whole Screen Time thing. *wink, wink* I like that Apple News is like a springboard to either visit the Web to discover more or discuss, face to face, something you've read with real, live human beings, or, take what I've read while spending quality time in the restroom and get on with my day.

See I think the Apple News app looks super clean as it is, by far their best organized app. However, Flipboard does almost the exact same thing, and has had a comments part of their app since launch many years ago. It's basically the same thing, both apps have a "heart", a "share button" at the bottom, and then Flipboard also has a text bubble, whereby an overlay comes up and reads comments like FB comment sections shows; quite clean looking and doesn't interfere with the article or look of the app at all.

Must be they just don't want people speaking against said media content. It should be absorbed, not critiqued. One might call that having trust in the publisher, another might call that not being held accountable for false information.

Either way, for those non political articles, I still feel like a part of the article reading experience is missing; as it's just another level of engagement to see people comment with their own personal thoughts - especially when it's a touching story.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Just curious, why does Apple not allow comments in their Apple News app? Admittedly I don't use it very often, but when I do, and rarely stumble upon a thoughtful article; I find myself lacking that interaction that comes from reading comments.

Anyone feel the same way? I'm guessing this is just another way of Apple preventing mayhem in the comment section, but I genuinely like to learn from people's comments rather than become enraged by them.

The purpose of the app is to relay curated information to you, not provide a blog type comment section like some other websites.

If Apple start allowing comments, the app would become a cesspool. There is no shortage of places on the Internet to convert your thoughts about stories of interest to you.

 

[Piplodocus]

because the internet's already full of cnuts with irritatingly uninformed opinions that we don't all need to hear?

 

[Phogro]

Just curious, why does Apple not allow comments in their Apple News app? Admittedly I don't use it very often, but when I do, and rarely stumble upon a thoughtful article; I find myself lacking that interaction that comes from reading comments.

Anyone feel the same way? I'm guessing this is just another way of Apple preventing mayhem in the comment section, but I genuinely like to learn from people's comments rather than become enraged by them.

It's got o be primarily to avoid the need to moderate comment sections on its platform. Imagine how much additional costs would be involved in making sure these threads didn't turn into idiotic banter.

 

[JRobinsonJr]

I think Apple wants to avoid entirely the crowd of neo-nazis and ****-stirrers that tend to infect any and all comment sections they can.

Minor correction based on your premise: Apple wants to avoid the controversy and extreme positions frequently found in comment sections.
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It's got o be primarily to avoid the need to moderate comment sections on its platform. Imagine how much additional costs would be involved in making sure these threads didn't turn into idiotic banter.

Unless, of course, the Apple News 'comments' section could be tied back to the source articles comments section, in which case Apple would not have any curation responsibility.
[doublepost=1548169735][/doublepost]

Either way, for those non political articles, I still feel like a part of the article reading experience is missing; as it's just another level of engagement to see people comment with their own personal thoughts - especially when it's a touching story.

I'll second this! Even when I don't like or agree with a story, I frequently learn something from reading the comments. Yes, even those that are annoying. Perception of reality is a wonderful thing and I sincerely hope I never reach a point where new perspectives are not an option.

 

[TrenttonY]

Haven’t you noticed that most websites are removing the comment sections? Hmm I wonder why?

People tend to look at the comments for the truth.

 

[cmaier]

Comments are pretty much the worst thing about reading news on the internet. It’s part of how actual facts and mere opinions have merged into a toxic stew of stupidity.

 

[Venkat07]

I like the simplicity and single focus of not having comments.

+1

 

[documental79]

The people who are thrilled about this confuse me because if you don't want to read the comments, go ahead and don't read them. The only people truly affected by the loss of comments are those who do like to read and contribute.

The death of comments is to me, one of the sadder side effects of the increasing toxicity of online culture combined with the downfall of the news industry in the past decade or so. The ability to engage in online questioning or discussion of news stories in situ was one of the major additions to online news, in addition to speed, accessibility and cheapness, when it came about. The fact it has disappeared from most major platforms is due to the realization that comments -- like anything -- require care, work and curation to avoid descending into hateful attacks, spam and off-topic bloviating.

What I'm noticing now is even on sites that have comments, when there is an app version developed it usually drops them altogether. So you can be reading the exact same article on your browser and on a phone app, but one has the comments, the other doesn't. This difference bothers me.
[doublepost=1560518841][/doublepost]

Comments are pretty much the worst thing about reading news on the internet. It’s part of how actual facts and mere opinions have merged into a toxic stew of stupidity.

Unfortunately that exists even in the actual stories themselves, op-eds and politically motivated reporting chief among them. Comments can be totally ridiculous, but well curated and monitored ones like the NYT runs can add a lot of actual information as well as thoughtful opinions on stories they publish.