FYI from the HearSay with Cathy Lewis Facebook page:
”The Virginian-Pilot‘s sale to Tribune Publishing has brought many changes – including the deletion of the comment section on its articles.
“What was your reaction to this decision? Do you find value in comment sections?
“We’ll talk to Chris Wolf, co-author of “Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet,” as well as author, editor and journalist Andrew Losowsky who has written about the importance of the comment section.”
HearSay airs from noon to 1 p.m. on 89.5 FM. It is usually archived on the WHRV website within a few hours.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
I enjoy Lewis’ program, usually the last half during lunch. It will be interesting to hear what is said today.
Thank you for the info, Jim.
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Thanks for sharing this, Mr. Roberts. I’m very interested in the broadcast.
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That was an excellent show. If there was one consistent theme, it was that properly done comments features require significant resource investment in planning, definition and execution.
I am beginning to think that the Pilot’s decision to cancel comments has more to do with controlling public discourse than with informing it. But there’s no way to know for sure unless we hear more from Pilot representatives.
I hope Ms. Lewis will do another segment on the topic that someone from the Pilot can attend.
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I was pleasantly surprised; even the second guest (who was supposed to argue against comments) said they have value, when done properly.
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RE: “I was pleasantly surprised…”
Me, too. Ms. Lewis is a very smart lady.
I got to thinking about my own contributions of cesspool-style comments at the Pilot. It occured to me that I actually appreciate strong moderation of a discussion board. One of the benefits is that you don’t have to protect yourself against unreasonable public attacks.
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“I am beginning to think that the Pilot’s decision to cancel comments has more to do with controlling public discourse than with informing it.”
No. Money, Moolah, Dead Presidents.
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I also think that it was only a money decision. I wonder who is getting fired (or not replaced) to reduce the cost. On the other hand, the comments were the main reason that I went on the web site, so the Pilot has lost that reader.
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