Is this the end of online news comments sections?

InfluenceChronicles.Com --  National Public Radio has joined the growing number of online media outlets that no longer show public comments at the bottom of news stories.  

​In case you’re new to this WWW thing:  Many comment sections have been commandeered by small groups of mostly anonymous "trolls" who shout down and ridicule anyone with opposing opinions, often with incredibly violent imagery and hate speech.  And don't get us started about punctuation.
 
Many news sites held on – and still do -- to comment sections in part because they create space to sell ads, without the nuisance of paying journalists for content.  These days, however, social media platforms offer more civil, cost-efficient ways to facilitate public dialogue around sponsors’ interests. The result is that media sites are dropping comment sections as a well-intentioned but failed, high-maintenance vestige of a simpler Internet time.

But not all.  One ticked-off supporter of comment sections is Breitbart News, the hyper-populist, anti-lefty media site whose chairman is now running Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. 

Hostile partisan vitriol is what outlets like Breitbart and the anti-righty Daily Kos are selling, and they have plenty of followers (including trolls).  But these aren’t products that attract mainstream advertisers and promotions.  It’s commerce, not comments, that keep most online media in business.

Time Magazine underscores the problem with its cover story, “How Trolls are ruining the Internet.” Some 80% of the 93-year-old magazine's own writers said they don't cover certain topics because they fear the online response.  Sometimes the attackers will track down and harass a writer's spouse, parents, even children. 

Despite America’s chaotically contradictory Internet culture, it would seem that the bulk of news comment sections are heading toward extinction as new ways to engage the virtual public square become more advanced.  What the Internet mob does as a result is a whole other consideration.

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"An anonymous poll of the writers at TIME found that 80% had avoided discussing a particular topic because they feared the online response. ... Their comments included “I’ve been raged at with religious slurs, had people track down my parents and call them at home, had my body parts inquired about.” Another wrote, “I’ve had the usual online trolls call me horrible names and say I am biased and stupid and deserve to be raped. I don’t think men realize how normal that is for women on the Internet.”

     --  Joel Stein writing in Time Magazine's cover story
           "How Trolls Are Ruining The Internet"