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School Board Mocks Parents, 'Unfortunate' Remarks Go Viral

President of board in Oakley, Calif., resigns after video of virtual meeting circulates online

(Newser) - The president of a California school board has resigned and parents are calling for more heads to roll after a virtual meeting showed multiple board members laughing and mocking parents who want their kids back in school. Per Fox News , Oakley Union Elementary School Board members apparently thought no one...

She Was Dictating a Comment to NYT. Then Things Got Weird

An auto-to-text gaffe charms the internet

(Newser) - It started off in normal enough fashion. "Zero optimism that the Democrats can ever regain ..." wrote Christine McMorrow in a comment to the New York Times . And then things started getting weird. “Hello hi oh you're there are you outside oh well let me come to...

Web Sites Liable for Anonymous User Comments: EU Court

Newser editors terrified

(Newser) - Web sites can be held legally liable for anonymous user comments posted on them, the European Court of Human Rights declared yesterday, in a ruling sure to terrify news sites everywhere. The case revolves around the Estonian news site Delfi, which in 2006 posted an unflattering article about a ferry...

Science Proves It: Online Comments Suck
 Science Proves It: 
 Online Comments Suck 
OPINION
Mar 7, 2013 12:13 PM CST

Science Proves It: Online Comments Suck

Meghan Daum laments 'soul-killing' Internet chatter

(Newser) - Finally, we have actual scientific proof that online comments are the worst, writes Meghan Daum in the Los Angeles Times . A new study finds that such comments actually do have "soul-killing, society-destroying effects," namely: Rude, uncivil comments can sway the opinions of readers who are otherwise objective. The...

Law Would Ban Anonymous Online Comments

New York legislators want to bring 'accountability' to digital age

(Newser) - Two New York lawmakers want to outlaw anonymous comments from websites based in the state. Their proposed legislation is now in both legislative houses, though no votes have been taken, reports Wired . The idea is to reduce cyberbullying and "baseless political attacks," and bring "some accountability to...

Bristol: Stop Bullying Me, Internet

Gay-marriage blog post prompts some over-the-top responses

(Newser) - Bristol Palin just learned the hard way that darkness can lurk in Internet comment threads. It seems Palin's post criticizing President Obama's gay-marriage stance upset more than a few people, and they let her know it in no uncertain terms. In a new blog post , spotted by the...

Beck to Fans: Don't Defend Me Online

Tells followers to cut vitriolic comments, pray for haters

(Newser) - Glenn Beck is shocked—shocked—at the vitriol he found in comments posted about him, and wants his more ardent supporters to turn the other cheek. The Fox host, digressing from a discussion on the Bronx gay torture case , said he'd been horrified to read blogs that viciously attacked him...

News Sites Reconsider Anonymous Comments

Move to pull comments out of gutter

(Newser) - The anonymous free-for-all that online news commenters have always counted on may not be around for much longer. As anonymous comments come under increasing attack as bastions of "crudity, bigotry, meanness and plain nastiness," as one journalist puts it, many news sites are moving away from the practice,...

Tired of Abuse, Engadget Turns Off Comments

It's an 'experiment,' tech site editor says of temporary move

(Newser) - The editors at Engadget have had it up to here with nasty, over-the-top commenters. The tech site temporarily disabled comments today because their tone over the last week "has really gotten out of hand," explains a note to readers. "Some of you out there in the world...

Vulgar Online Comment Costs Man His Job
Vulgar Online Comment Costs Man His Job
big brother
Nov 20, 2009 8:40 AM CST

Vulgar Online Comment Costs Man His Job

He posts dirty word, then gets tracked via his IP address

(Newser) - Commenters, beware. A St. Louis man who posted a vulgarity at a newspaper website soon found himself out of a job. When the St. Louis Post-Dispatch asked readers to weigh in with the strangest thing they've ever eaten, one guy responded with what the paper describes as a "vulgar...

China Orders Websites to Register Names of Users

Once-anonymous posters must register with true identities for 'social responsibility'

(Newser) - The Chinese government has quietly instructed news websites there to require new users and commenters to log on under their true identities, the New York Times reports. Netizens in China have long resisted the so-called “real name system,” which the government claims engenders “social responsibility” and greater...

11 Stories