apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Maybe I'm just not sensitive to the comments of virtual strangers on the web (a few years as a web admin may have hardened me), but negative comments about me and mine tend not to get me terribly upset. Sometimes good criticism is hard to hear, but if anyone puts his/herself out there to be judged, don't expect everyone to have a positive opinion or tact. If we were to do away with comments, AT would lose an important part of it's function--the sharing of design solutions and problem solving with people whose homes have unique features.

One thing that has helped me not see red if someone is particularly rude in the comments section here is to click on their profile and read some of their past comments. Almost every time, I have found that they are rude to everyone--that it's not a problem with the photos, but with the commenter. It really helps me to dismiss--though not excuse--that person and their rudeness.

I do think, however, that if this has become a problem big enough for there to be surveys and discussion on the point, the mods of the site here should be doing the same research. In fact, they may need to become more aggressive with chastising or even banning particularly unpleasant people. It sounds harsh and perhaps counter-intuitive, but banning trolls is really the only way a community as large as AT is becoming will remain friendly and inviting.

I think that disabling comments overall is a bad idea for the reasons that harlie stated.

Also, I think that if I did submit an entry, even if I had comments disabled I'd be tempted to enable them anyways just out of morbid curiosity ;).

I didn't submit a colors entry, since I just moved, and my lease forbids painting anything. Wait a couple of years when I buy my next place and I'll submit like mad :).

The rude comments generally seem to come from 2-3 people, who go around leaving rude comments everywhere, so I don't think that would really bother me. Also, it seems like everyone else jumps on them pretty seriously for being a jerk, so even though their comments aren't removed, it's pretty clear what the community thinks.

I was right in the midst of *finally* getting my apartment into some kind of shape, so maybe next year!

leave comments on, but create some sort of troll management system--say, giving individual users the ability to ban the people they think aren't being productive (i.e., I click the link that says, "I don't ever want to see this person's comments again"--others can still see him, just not me). Also, keep track of the number of bans a person gets, and make that information (perhaps above a certain threshold) available to everyone to help them decide whether or not to ban.