I think I view humans overall in pretty much a positive light that is until I view the comments section in the journal.ie on Facebook. There it seems is where every bigot, racist, homophobe, sectarian, religious zealot, cunt, asshole flourishes when even the most ordinary of societal articles are posted.

I know the journal is not the worst, that goes to the Belfast telegraph and Twitter. Do you engage in comments sections or like me find them depressing?

I usually just read or flick through the articles on The Journal (can't comment because not on FB).
I think they take down offensive comments quite quickly but lots of trolls everywhere.

Pity you can't red thumb anymore. That made it a bit more interesting.

The highlight today was people giving out about the Irish navy saving a drowned infant in the mediterranean

I have seen good and bad viewpoints on The Journal. They do have a bit of troll problem though. These people surely don't believe the crap they post?

Elsewhere, I find newspaper comments weirdly alluring as frankly most of the time they are pointless and yeah sometimes toxic. The Guardian comments sections are usually okay for the most part. But reading beyond the first page of comments is definitely a habit I need to kick.

I think it was wheeliebin who came up with good advice here a few years ago. It was basically never read below the article.

There's a paper in Norway where you have to answer a simple question on the article in order to comment. It's an excellent idea.

I like that idea - would certainly cut down on people trolling after just reading the heading. I try if I can not to read the comments, as they either depress me or piss me off. Not sure if the Journal wants to cut down or out tho - it certainly seems to thrive on the chaos of it all

Don't read the comments is my advice. Whatever you do don't read the comments on YouTube. Don't post either. Learned that the hard way. I stopped commenting on most forums and news sites, partly because I realised I had nothing to say and partly because no one cares. Apart from the fact that whatever you say it will be lost in the tower of babel that is the internet but not before it's ignored, misinterpreted, distorted and used against you. You may think you have something to say but no one is interested even if you are the greatest intellectual in history.
If Plato, Confucious, Aristotle were around today their wisdom would be lost in the wave of verbal diarrhoea the engulfs anyone who tries to make sense of the world.

(Bet someone chimes in now and says Plato was an idiot who plagiarised Socrates )

A lot of news sites have become too Buzzfeedy for my taste - that puts me off more than the comments.

The comments section there is much better than it used to be. I find comments on the Irish Times facebook page hilarious. 95% of extreme catholic american commenters who know nothing about Ireland.

Why would you find the replies of idiots depressing?

Because it shows how bad parts of the human race are

Or they would do what they did in their own time (or what history portrays them as having done...): they would use the media of the times, and find a way for their voices to be heard and recognized as unique and valuable enough a contribution.

I cannot imagine that a peasant in Classical Greece would have found it easy to be heard if she felt she had something to say... no one was interested... amongst the 100 people she may met in her life-time.

The comments on RTÉ's facebook page concerning rolling out the HPV vaccine to boys is beyond unbelievable. People linking fake news and non science regarding vaccines to children. It's nuts reading how crazy people are.

I tend to avoid reading these comments. It's just too depressing. Some of those commenting would be perfectly at home on sites like stormfront.

But I reckon 97% of these keyboard warriors who feel the need to share their bigotry wouldn't say boo to a goose!