Northern Colorado News Sources Doing Away with Online Commenting

My gosh.  I might actually start following some news sites on Facebook again - at least for however long I even mess with Facebook.

When you do a local radio show, knowing what's going on around you is just a teensy bit important.  For a long time now, I've been just going directly to news websites to make sure I'm not missing anything, because for some reason, my eyes are always drawn to the comments on a Facebook post before I feel like opening the story.  Next thing I know, I'm feeling a little ashamed to be a part of the human race and kind of just want to barricade myself inside my house.

Coloradoan News Editor Eric Larsen has his own way of saying basically the same thing, and I could only imagine.  Have you seen - or worse yet created - some of the comments on Coloradoan news stories?  It really seems like they can't say anything without someone telling them they're a sorry excuse for journalism, or worse - to which my thought is always the same:  "Okay, then... Let's see what YOUR news write-ups look like.  And remember, you have to be on top of them numerous times daily and nightly."  Good grief man, if everyone had that kind of ongoing harassment on the job, nobody would want to show up.

As of this week, the Coloradoan is shutting down the commenting feature on its news stories for three months.  Why is it temporary?  They're using it as an experiment, mainly to see whether more or less people follow the Coloradoan, and how the overall opinion of their service seems to be affected.  I, for one, will resume following them.

I'm told this has become a trend, at least here in Northern Colorado; as the Loveland Reporter-Herald and Longmont Times Call has also disabled commenting.

It would be so cool if Facebook would feel more like it did until a year or two ago, when bickering seemed to nearly take the site over.  I, for one, like to use it as an opportunity to put a smile on someone's face.