http://www.standard.net/Faith/2015/02/14/Congregation-Cleans-Buildings
It’s a pleasant enough little article, a nice description of ward members taking care of their meetinghouses.
If you have the stomach for it, though, take a look at the comments following the article. They illustrate quite clearly the problem that has virtually destroyed the online comments sections of many if not most newspapers and magazines.
Those comments sections have been taken over to such an extent by foul-tempered and abusive bullies that, by and large, civil conversation and normal people have been driven out. These bullies often work in packs; they frequently seem to have nothing to do all day but post scores and scores of short (and often derisive) comments, and, when people show up whom they wish to target, they appear to go into a frenzy.
Quite a few editors once prided themselves on the fact that their comments sections were places of free and unfettered debate. But, as a matter of fact, the sheer toxicity of many of those comments sections has effectively put an end to any serious discussion in them. Debate is far less free and unfettered than it would be if it were moderated.
Some associates of mine are working on a possible way of solving this problem, and others related to it:
It’s very important, in my view, that some effort such as this succeed. I’m hoping that my friends will be the ones who do it.
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