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 Linda Thomas
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Linda is the morning news anchor and features reporter for KIRO Radio. This is her local news blog, with an emphasis on social media, technology, Northwest companies, education, parenting, and anything else that grabs her attention.

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SteveKelley.jpg
Steve Kelley wrote his final sports column for The Seattle Times, reflecting on his career highlights and the low lights of negative comments on almost any story posted online. "For the life of me, I don't know why we run comments at bottoms of people's stories," Kelley says. (Linda Thomas photo)

Seattle sports writer won't miss inane, nasty reader comments

February 3, 2013 @ 5:49 pm (Updated: 1:37 pm - 2/4/13 )

Anyone who writes for a general audience online gets public comments on their stories ranging from inane to idiotic, with occasional insight and intelligence. Usually referred to as trolls, Steve Kelley won't miss them one bit.

In his final column Sunday, The Seattle Times sports writer reflected on 30 years of friends, acts of kindness.

"As much as I've loved covering the games, what I'll remember most from my 30-plus years in Seattle sports will be the associations and enduring friendships, the silly gives and takes and the great off-the-field, away-from-the-camera acts of kindness I've been fortunate to witness," Kelley wrote.

As much as he loved writing about sports, he also grew tired of the reader comments on many of his columns. He described it in an interview on KIRO's Luke Burbank Show as a free-for-all where the level of discourse has become inane and nasty.

"Whatever you've achieved in a story gets drowned out by this chorus of idiots," says Kelley.

On Burbank's show Friday, Kelley talked about one of his favorite columns was about his wife's courageous battle with a brain tumor in 1991.

"I got negative feedback," Kelley says. "People writing that, ‘We don't want to know about your boring personal life."

That column published in 1991 would have been before websites made it easier for people to comment on stories online. It just takes a few clicks for people to show their ugly sides instantly through anonymous posts on stories.

Burbank says the comments show the "darkest part of the human soul."

"For the life of me, I don't know why we run comments at bottoms of people's stories," Kelley says.

Media organizations have tried many ways to get around online comments that attack the writer or the subject of a story.

Some have turned off comments entirely; others only allow posts through Facebook which is less anonymous. Generally "trolls" lose all their power when they have to show their real identity.

People who write anonymous, hurtful comments get satisfaction from knowing they've had some impact on others - perhaps the only measurable impact they'll have that day.

Although I deal with constructive/destructive comments every day, I never refer to my readers as "trolls" publicly or privately.

I'm grateful for people who click on this blog to read my stories. Do I cringe when I see personal attacks? Yes. But I support their free speech, as much as I believe in my own.

The tide of negative comments has a way of being washed over by some insightful, interesting, and challenging views. I see that all the time in conversations between blog readers here.

Sometimes the hateful statements aren't swept out to sea, and they can be exhausting to read. I question whether it's worth it too.

Kelley wants to know why people are so insulting online, considering most would never say the hurtful things they post online to someone's face or even as a phone message.

You're the experts on commenting. Do you have an answer for him?

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (22)


  • Add A Comment

  • *logos* wrote...
    Unfortunately
    February 4, 2013 1:18 pm
    most people are idiots.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    Not having to show ones name and address on their posts
    February 4, 2013 2:07 pm
    Is akin to allowing everyone to post verbal graffiti with a ski-mask over their faces. On the bright side, maybe the therapy has prevented a few people (some pointed out already) from coming out of those basements and really hurting someone or themselves.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cbrew wrote...
    It's the anonymous nature of the internet....
    February 4, 2013 2:15 pm
    The fact that people can be as cynical as they want... generally if there's only one person commenting, the comments are pretty straight forward and not hateful... but once you introduce a few that love to be outraged about everything... you see the responses of other people increase in vulgarity... it builds from there... bottom line, there's a lot of people with small dog syndrome... where nobody listens to them in their normal lives but people can't tell they're pathetic online... so there ya go... you get the worst of em...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    Why would I need to show my address on my post
    February 4, 2013 2:59 pm
    So some coward can shoot me in the back? For having a different opinion?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CJtheDJ wrote...
    Trolling
    February 4, 2013 4:47 pm
    I think some people find it fun to bash others, and especially so when they're anonymous. Kind of like the rush of jumping off a skyscraper without the downside of the splat at the bottom. Choices without obvious consequences can breed some weird and unpleasant stuff.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Zagnut wrote...
    I've appreciated Steve Kelley's work and "get" his complaint.
    February 4, 2013 5:06 pm
    However, the bottom line is that he is being a baby. I believe he has been the recipient of particularly obnoxious and harsh comments in the comment section, but SO WHAT? Steve, you are a grown man. You aren't a 12-year old being picked on by the schoolyard bully. IGNORE IT!!! You sound like a whiny insecure pussy. That being said, I think you are probably a great guy and I wish you the best in your retirement.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Hawkman wrote...
    its all good...
    February 5, 2013 1:37 pm
    as good out weighs evil. To get the best and the worst from your readers. This makes it more powerful, as they can open up and comment in a way they would never do otherwise. The power of free speech and the ability to comment on all matters broadens the scope of perpectives through out the many, not just the few.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }