Non-profit Tablet magazine announced last week that it will charge readers $2 to post a comment to any of the site’s stories. Frequent posters can choose to pay monthly for $18 or yearly for $180. The Jewish news and culture publication is imposing the new charge to encourage “civilized and constructive discussion” while deterring anonymous commenters from inappropriate or offensive posts.
“We are asking people who’d like to post comments on the site to pay a nominal fee – less a paywall than a gesture of your own commitment to the cause of great conversation,” explained Tablet editor-in-chief Alana Newhouse in the magazine’s announcement about the new commenting system. “The donation rates are small because we are not looking to make money, but instead to try to create a standard of engagement likely to turn off many, if not most, of the worst offenders.”
The publication’s articles will still remain free, and commenters who don’t wish to pay can still comment for free on Tablet’s social media channels or by writing directly to the editor. Tablet isn’t expecting a big boost in revenue from the change, but any money it makes from comments will go back into the publication which is supported by nonprofit eBook publisher Nextbook Inc.
This approach comes at an interesting time when big news outlets like the Chicago Sun-Times, Re/codeandPopular Science are shutting down the comments sections of their websites, each for different reasons. The Sun-Times is working on a new commenting system to improve quality and better police the worst offenders, Re/code believes that social media is replacing comments, and Popular Science says that a few bad apples not only spoil things for other readers but they can also inaccurately shape public opinion.
Some experts, including Aron Pilhofer, executive editor of digital at The Guardian, say omitting comments is a huge mistake. It disengages readers and makes news stories and articles one-way discussions rather than rich conversations.
Insider Take:
The big debate about comments and how to handle them is just getting started. It seems there are many reasons for media companies, large and small, to reconsider their necessity and value. We like that Tablet took a proactive approach – and a chance – by charging for comments. We encourage Tablet to test different pricing options to better understand how that makes a difference with the number of comments and discussion quality.
Since it is a nonprofit, Tablet won’t lose subscription dollars, though if site traffic drops, it could potentially lose advertising income. At the same time, Tablet has made the site more user-friendly by being less offensive, and it could increase revenue slightly. It will be interesting to see if Tablet is successful with this approach, and if so, if other companies will adopt it to address their own comment management problems.
