Independent.ie Comments not allowed now

Ally Dick

Bit of a bummer this one. I used to enjoy reading the comments and adding some of my own. Now they are saying they are abandoning the practice, because of "Ireland's draconian libel laws". Wow, I never knew that was a problem. Anywho, I shall miss the comment section. I'll have to rant on Boards instead

RayM

Comments sections: The online equivalent of pubs that serve all the people who are barred from all the other pubs.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

tomwaterford

When was this brought in??

Seen comments under that stamp guys article earlier today like?

Obviously someone doesn’t like hearing what the great unwashed thinks. Shame, really. Thank goodness for Boards.ie.

Varik

They've had comment for years and nothing happened even with our "draconian libel laws", The only ones bringing that down on them are their own writers occasionally.

They're getting rid of the comments for the same reason a lot of other do, they have their views and the posters in the comment section more than not take the opposite and sometimes to the extreme.

tomwaterford

tomwaterford wrote: »

When was this brought in??

Seen comments under that stamp guys article earlier today like?

Scroll down to comments section and there’s an announcement there.

Ally Dick

tomwaterford wrote: »

When was this brought in??

Seen comments under that stamp guys article earlier today like?

I noticed it this evening. Maybe it is just for my benefit :mad:

Ally Dick

Here is what it says:

Independent.ie Comments Facility

INM has taken the decision to remove the commenting facility on its online platform Independent.ie to minimise the legal risk to our business that arises from Ireland's draconian libel awards system.

We continue to look forward to receiving comments through direct email contact or via social media, some of which may still be featured on the website Independent.ie

tomwaterford

Ally Dick wrote: »

I noticed it this evening. Maybe it is just for my benefit :mad:

Gone off them all??

Wonder what kind of shîtfest it decended into to cause that

mzungu

It won't be any great loss. I'd say the real reason is that they don't want to bother paying anybody to moderate it.

PopePalpatine

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

AFAIK there's no such escape clause for websites in Ireland, I think a certain concert promoter raised a stink with this site a few years ago.

Anyone else find it ironic that the Indo is complaining of "draconian libel awards"?

elperello

PopePalpatine wrote: »

Anyone else find it ironic that the Indo is complaining of "draconian libel awards"?

Careful now!!

buried

Sounds like a right big mess coming down the road for that outfit real soon. I can't f**king wait

McMurphy

Varik wrote: »

They've had comment for years and nothing happened even with our "draconian libel laws", The only ones bringing that down on them are their own writers occasionally.

They're getting rid of the comments for the same reason a lot of other do, they have their views and the posters in the comment section more than not take the opposite and sometimes to the extreme.

The indo is heavily pre-moderated, ie your comments aren't gonna see the light of day unless they pass the quality control of the indos own proof readers.

Or....


In other words, Denis is hardly going to sue himself.

backspin.

I often enjoy the comments more than the articles. I consider most articles these days to be either heavily biased or heavily censored. At least in the comments you can get both sides. I will read less of these articles if i know there are no comments below.

Now if only they will disable comments on the journal articles.

the_syco

RayM wrote: »

Comments sections After Hours: The online equivalent of pubs that serve all the people who are barred from all the other pubs.

You wrote After Hours incorrectly :P

backspin.

Varik wrote: »

They've had comment for years and nothing happened even with our "draconian libel laws", The only ones bringing that down on them are their own writers occasionally.

They're getting rid of the comments for the same reason a lot of other do, they have their views and the posters in the comment section more than not take the opposite and sometimes to the extreme.

I've seen some journalists absolutely roasted in the comment section. Nothing nasty just their article picked a part piece by piece. I'm sure the journalists and the editors don't like to see that happen. Convenient for them now to not have to face that sort of analysis.

Btw i also know some comments sections end up an absolute cesspit of bile. But by and large they have been good for people who like to hear more than one perspective.

lertsnim

Deleted User wrote: »

Now if only they will disable comments on the journal articles.

The Journal wouldnt last a month if they did that.

McMurphy

backspin. wrote: »

I've seen some journalists absolutely roasted in the comment section. Nothing nasty just their article picked a part piece by piece. I'm sure the journalists and the editors don't like to see that happen. Convenient for them now to not have to face that sort of analysis.

Btw i also know some comments sections end up an absolute cesspit of bile. But by and large they have been good for people who like to hear more than one perspective.

Agree 110%

MadDog76

Ally Dick wrote: »

Bit of a bummer this one. I used to enjoy reading the comments and adding some of my own. Now they are saying they are abandoning the practice, because of "Ireland's draconian libel laws". Wow, I never knew that was a problem. Anywho, I shall miss the comment section. I'll have to rant on Boards instead

Deleted User wrote: »

Obviously someone doesn’t like hearing what the great unwashed thinks. Shame, really. Thank goodness for Boards.ie.

You can't exactly give a 100% honest truthful opinion on here either ........

murpho999

Ally Dick wrote: »

Here is what it says:

Independent.ie Comments Facility

INM has taken the decision to remove the commenting facility on its online platform Independent.ie to minimise the legal risk to our business that arises from Ireland's draconian libel awards system.

We continue to look forward to receiving comments through direct email contact or via social media, some of which may still be featured on the website Independent.ie

So now they removed both the commenting and journalistic facilities from their website it means they can pour more resources into how "Ireland's Golden Couple",Amy Huberman's and Brian O'Driscoll's house extension plans are getting along.

Rubberchikken

Book burning next.

For Forks Sake

lertsnim wrote: »

The Journal wouldnt last a month if they did that.

A month? You mad, they'd have to shut down within three minutes.

Atlantic Dawn

The availability of comments on Independent.ie was always very selective, some articles like those related to property prices and certain hob knob connected people were no go areas with comments disabled.

andekwarhola

Haven't read the comments for stuff like that or youtube for a long time. It's the discursive equivalent of aimlessly stirring a slurry pit.

elperello

This will probably reduce traffic on the site and thus affect advertising revenue.

Irish Guitarist

I noticed this happened just around the time the LCD Soundsystem thread was posted here. I commented on the story on the Independent website. Then the next day I left another comment about how Al Doyle was a liar and that there was a picture of him and Leo Varadkar on Twitter. This comment never went up. A few hours later all the comments were gone.

Around the same time they printed the story about the girl in the wheelchair suing Costa.

I suspect it was one of these stories that prompted them to disable comments. Most likely it was the Costa one. Costa were probably sick of their name being dragged through the mud and threatened legal action.

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

So now they removed both the commenting and journalistic facilities from their website it means they can pour more resources into how "Ireland's Golden Couple",Amy Huberman's and Brian O'Driscoll's house extension plans are getting along.

or How Vogue Williams is upset over getting only 10 likes on her latest instagram post or what Roz Purcell made for dinner

GhostyMcGhost

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Now if only they will disable comments on the journal articles.

Some of the people there could also be described as draconian

server down

RayM wrote: »

Boards.ie: The online equivalent of pubs that serve all the people who are barred from all the other pubs.

Oh.

PARlance

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I noticed this happened just around the time the LCD Soundsystem thread was posted here. I commented on the story on the Independent website. Then the next day I left another comment about how Al Doyle was a liar and that there was a picture of him and Leo Varadkar on Twitter. This comment never went up. A few hours later all the comments were gone.

Around the same time they printed the story about the girl in the wheelchair suing Costa.

I suspect it was one of these stories that prompted them to disable comments. Most likely it was the Costa one. Costa were probably sick of their name being dragged through the mud and threatened legal action.

Please don't call them disabled comments, that young one will be on another rant.

suicide_circus

Can hardly blame them, the quality of writing, reason and wit in the comments frequently surpassed that in the articles.

Benildus

Where will the Shinnerbots and anti FF/FG/LAB nutters go now?

Mrcaramelchoc

Benildus wrote: »

Where will the Shinnerbots and anti FF/FG/LAB nutters go now?

Here.

CeilingFly

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

Around the same time they printed the story about the girl in the wheelchair suing Costa.

I suspect it was one of these stories that prompted them to disable comments. Most likely it was the Costa one. Costa were probably sick of their name being dragged through the mud and threatened legal action.

This is the rag's problem- they themselves will publish anything without checking the truth or even checking any background.

Costa story was classic example of gutter journalism that has become the mainstay of the website.

Known liar who targets companies for self promotion and indo publishes it without checking

And then all the stupids believing the proven liar waging a war against Costa .

Pinch Flat

Noticed this myself yesterday. The comments section of the Indo was a bit of access pit anyway with a selection of some nut jobs who you’d hope you never come across in the real world. Some sad, lonely trolls who lived for commenting.

I read the comments about Stefanie Preissner yesterday. Not someone I know a whole lot about, she’s an author and my only time seeing her was on the Brendan O’Connor chat thing. Comes across as being bright and funny and prettty genuine. She’s lost 11 stone which I never realised and she was in the late late show on Friday night. Some of the Indo comments about here were pretty disgusting. Sad trolls that are so miserable in their lives and hate themselves that they try and inflict this on someone else.

uck51js9zml2yt

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Noticed this myself yesterday. The comments section of the Indo was a bit of access pit anyway with a selection of some nut jobs who you’d hope you never come across in the real world. Some sad, lonely trolls who lived for commenting.

. Sad trolls that are so miserable in their lives and hate themselves that they try and inflict this on someone else.

Reminds me of boards.ie

nice_guy80

probably due to the 8th ammendment referendum coming up

lot of nut jobs out there

Ally Dick

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Noticed this myself yesterday. The comments section of the Indo was a bit of access pit anyway with a selection of some nut jobs who you’d hope you never come across in the real world. Some sad, lonely trolls who lived for commenting.

I read the comments about Stefanie Preissner yesterday. Not someone I know a whole lot about, she’s an author and my only time seeing her was on the Brendan O’Connor chat thing. Comes across as being bright and funny and prettty genuine. She’s lost 11 stone which I never realised and she was in the late late show on Friday night. Some of the Indo comments about here were pretty disgusting. Sad trolls that are so miserable in their lives and hate themselves that they try and inflict this on someone else.

I disagree. The comments section were too heavily moderated for bad stuff to get through

Loon E. Tick

Ally Dick wrote: »

I disagree. The comments section were too heavily moderated for bad stuff to get through

In the case of Costa and Niamh Herbert, the comments were completely one-sided with people saying they would never set foot in there again because she was implying that they had discriminated against somebody with a disability and committed an illegal act. The people commenting just bought into her story because of the Indo's sensationalist headline that she had been 'denied service'; the exact same headline they used with her story about Ryanair which was subsequently shown to be completely inaccurate.

The_Valeyard

I think its angry journalists and editors who are shocked that people have different opinions than them. They cant survive outside their echo chamber.

Loon E. Tick

Loon E. Tick wrote: »

In the case of Costa and Niamh Herbert, the comments were completely one-sided with people saying they would never set foot in there again because she was implying that they had discriminated against somebody with a disability and committed an illegal act. The people commenting just bought into her story because of the Indo's sensationalist headline that she had been 'denied service'; the exact same headline they used with her story about Ryanair which was subsequently shown to be completely inaccurate.

Exactly. They didn’t post comments pointing out her history or favorable to Costa.

Ally Dick

Ally Dick wrote: »

Here is what it says:

Independent.ie Comments Facility

INM has taken the decision to remove the commenting facility on its online platform Independent.ie to minimise the legal risk to our business that arises from Ireland's draconian libel awards system.

We continue to look forward to receiving comments through direct email contact or via social media, some of which may still be featured on the website Independent.ie

Long live 'Ireland's draconian libel laws' as the only protection against the abuses of the journalism mob and all their back scratching, agenda pushing, demonisation of opposing individuals and agendas, etc. Except they should be much, much stronger. It's not as if journalism in Ireland is marked by courageous public-interest investigative reporting, is it. Mere lackeys for the powerful, ingratiating themselves with rightwing agendas and circle jerking about their own "influence".

Those Independent rags - particularly the Sunday Independent - have targeted and demonised numerous groups and individuals from the workers in the 1913 Lockout (when the owner of Independent Newspapers, the one and only William 'Murder' Murphy, was also the largest employer in Dublin and chief opponent of the workers) to the Irish fighting the War of Independence in 1919-1921 against the British Empire to the relentless campaign against John Hume in the 1990s for the "crime" of starting the Peace Process/talking with Sinn Féin to "Sir Anthony" O'Reilly's lackeys like Shane Ross - yes, he who reinvented himself in 2011 as a crusader for "ethics" - talking down Eircom's share price until "Sir" Anthony rode in to buy Eircom shares at a ridiculously low price and then Ross talked them up until the now bankrupt "Sir Anthony" sold them for a profit, or the meeting before the 2007 General Election between "Sir Anthony" and Ahern and Cowen to list his demands in exchange for his newspapers supporting Fianna Fáil, or the very related appearance of Eoghan Harris on the Late Late Show before that same election and was rewarded with a €100,000 per annum position in Seanad Éireann for saying Ahern was great (that parasite will get a pension, paid for by Irish taxpayers, for the rest of his even more miserable life).

Some of us are never going to forget what those rags - and the Harris/Fanning cult and their hired pseudo-intellectual "intellectual" lackeys Ruth Dudley Edwards, John A. Murphy, etc - stand for. It will be a great step forward for democracy and freedom of speech in Ireland when their stranglehold on this society, and their West Brit, poor-hating agendas are overthrown. Given the near incestuous relationship between most of its writers, it will also be a great day for Irish coporate life that such an in-bred company is no more.

511

Benildus wrote: »

Where will the Shinnerbots and anti FF/FG/LAB nutters go now?

r/Ireland it seems. I was reading a thread about Che Guevara on there yesterday and posts bashing communism or Guevara were getting downvoted like mad.

The_Valeyard

511 wrote: »

r/Ireland it seems. I was reading a thread about Che Guevara on there yesterday and posts bashing communism or Guevara were getting downvoted like mad.

Yeah reddit ireland does seem to be the hangout for far lefties.

Biggest lickspittle on boardz

Deleted User wrote: »

Obviously someone doesn’t like hearing what the great unwashed thinks. Shame, really. Thank goodness for Boards.ie.

I'm going to assume this is a sarcastic post, seeing as boards.ie has purged probably 1/4 of the entire population of Ireland at this point.

Uosdwis R. Dewoh

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Noticed this myself yesterday. The comments section of the Indo was a bit of access pit anyway with a selection of some nut jobs who you’d hope you never come across in the real world. Some sad, lonely trolls who lived for commenting.

I read the comments about Stefanie Preissner yesterday. Not someone I know a whole lot about, she’s an author and my only time seeing her was on the Brendan O’Connor chat thing. Comes across as being bright and funny and prettty genuine. She’s lost 11 stone which I never realised and she was in the late late show on Friday night. Some of the Indo comments about here were pretty disgusting. Sad trolls that are so miserable in their lives and hate themselves that they try and inflict this on someone else.

Obviously jealous of her new fit body and even moreso, her ability to make a change to her life, even though it was difficult.

If it's heavily moderated, what they leave out must be the rantings of the unhinged.

I can't stand Independent newspapers but I understand why they have to be careful of what gets associated with their articles (libel cases can be made against publications or broadcasters for enabling people to make libellous comments, even if the publication or broadcaster itself doesn't make them).

And I have seen plenty of comments to the Indo taking the same anti public sector line as them - it's some of the most populist tripe ever, of course plenty of folk are gonna share that view. I really don't think they're disabling commenting because of people not agreeing with them. They're just news reports anyway - they're not opinions.

Ideally, any view that's backed up should be allowed (I know that doesn't happen) but it's not hard to express that view civilly and without throwing insults.

riffmongous

511 wrote: »

r/Ireland it seems. I was reading a thread about Che Guevara on there yesterday and posts bashing communism or Guevara were getting downvoted like mad.

Some of those comments were fierce shít though

cursai

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Long live 'Ireland's draconian libel laws' as the only protection against the abuses of the journalism mob and all their back scratching, agenda pushing, demonisation of opposing individuals and agendas, etc. Except they should be much, much stronger. It's not as if journalism in Ireland is marked by courageous public-interest investigative reporting, is it. Mere lackeys for the powerful, ingratiating themselves with rightwing agendas and circle jerking about their own "influence".

Those Independent rags - particularly the Sunday Independent - have targeted and demonised numerous groups and individuals from the workers in the 1913 Lockout (when the owner of Independent Newspapers, the one and only William 'Murder' Murphy, was also the largest employer in Dublin and chief opponent of the workers) to the Irish fighting the War of Independence in 1919-1921 against the British Empire to the relentless campaign against John Hume in the 1990s for the "crime" of starting the Peace Process/talking with Sinn Féin to "Sir Anthony" O'Reilly's lackeys like Shane Ross - yes, he who reinvented himself in 2011 as a crusader for "ethics" - talking down Eircom's share price until "Sir" Anthony rode in to buy Eircom shares at a ridiculously low price and then Ross talked them up until the now bankrupt "Sir Anthony" sold them for a profit, or the meeting before the 2007 General Election between "Sir Anthony" and Ahern and Cowen to list his demands in exchange for his newspapers supporting Fianna Fáil, or the very related appearance of Eoghan Harris on the Late Late Show before that same election and was rewarded with a €100,000 per annum position in Seanad Éireann for saying Ahern was great (that parasite will get a pension, paid for by Irish taxpayers, for the rest of his even more miserable life).

Some of us are never going to forget what those rags - and the Harris/Fanning cult and their hired pseudo-intellectual "intellectual" lackeys Ruth Dudley Edwards, John A. Murphy, etc - stand for. It will be a great step forward for democracy and freedom of speech in Ireland when their stranglehold on this society, and their West Brit, poor-hating agendas are overthrown. Given the near incestuous relationship between most of its writers, it will also be a great day for Irish coporate life that such an in-bred company is no more.

Maybe this kind of rant is why they got rid of it.