Closure of Popular Science's online comment stream sparks debate
Backing and criticism for magazine's decision to stop letting internet users comment on stories
Care to comment on a Popular Science article, say, "These Magnetic Nanobots Could Carry Drugs Into Your Brain" or "FYI: Do Animals Have Orgasms?"?
That's not possible - not any more. Last week, the magazine, known for a chatty, pop-culture approach to serious science, announced that it was shutting off online comments. "Comments," an editor wrote in an online post, "can be bad for science".
The magazine, which cannot afford paid moderators, said that vicious, insulting or ignorant comments can pollute otherwise intelligent online discussions and undermine public understanding and appreciation of science itself.
"Trolls and spambots," it said, sometimes hijacked the conversation, particularly on divisive issues like climate change and evolution.
For example, "BUNK", one commenter said of an article posted in August about scientists finding fossil evidence that mammals weren't the first creatures with fur. "What this actually shows is that evolution is still nonsense and doesn't work," it went on.
Still, the move to silence what many online readers consider a digital town square has ignited a burst of reaction from bloggers and commentators on science and the media, as well as editors at other science magazines.