Haters, haters everywhere

Most comments can be rather humorous, but sometimes people leave extremely hate-filled comments

The ability to moderate comments gives one some kind of power, it gives you control over what messages you want people to view on a particular story. For readers, leaving comments gives them a platform to voice their opinions, to engage in conversation — healthy or not. It gives them room to engage in heated debates and more importantly, it ensures that they are up-to-date on current events — be it Malala jointly winning the Nobel Peace Prize or the stampede at the PTI rally in Multan — for the most part.

Interestingly, as an outcome of Imran Khan’s ‘Azadi’ march, people commenting on The Express Tribune’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages only have one thing to say: ‘Go Nawaz, Go’, whether or not the story or the image has anything to do with the prime minister or the PTI chief. It seems that this is the rhetoric of the nation these days (DJ Butt seems to also have picked up on it by incorporating it in the music for the rallies). Images of Malala, Ebola outbreaks, floods or the Northern Lights are all pounded with comments of ‘Go Nawaz, Go’.

Everything is linked to anti-government sentiment, so much so, that an individual commenting on the Northern Lights has said: “Wow! But GO Nawaz, GO.” Go Nawaz, Go has certainly become a trend.

Even on stories which shed light on serious issues such as depression, self-deprecating humour (the best kind of humour) is shared. On Malala’s win: “if Malala can win Nobel Prize then Sahir Lodhi can win the Oscar.” Other images have the slogan hitting out at Imran: “Ro Imran, Ro”.

Most of it can be rather humorous, but sometimes people leave extremely hate-filled comments which brings me to the next point — comment moderation does one more important thing: it gives one a good gauge of peoples’ mindsets.

Readers have simply left comments issuing threats as well as asking for the death of people. Positive things for the image of the country, such as Malala’s win, have led people to leave comments bashing her and moved on to people abusing each other’s mothers. You would think this is because of the divide between Malala lovers and haters, however, it’s alarming to see that people are pretty much hateful of almost anything. It doesn’t matter what the topic is, they love to hate.

For people moderating comments, aside from either being entertained or disgusted, ideas spew from the feedback we receive from our readers. We can learn to either avoid certain topics, or close comments on stories which will almost certainly bring about abusive content.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2014.