Summary

The author advocates for Medium to integrate the Kinja comment system to enhance community engagement and improve upon Medium's current "response" feature, which they argue is ineffective.

Abstract

The article expresses a desire for Medium to acquire the Kinja commenting system, which was previously used by Gawker, to improve the interactive experience on the platform. The author laments the loss of Gawker's vibrant commenting culture and believes that Medium's current system of "responses" is insufficient for fostering a sense of community. They suggest that the lack of a proper comment section is detrimental to the platform's ability to engage users in meaningful conversations. The author points out that Medium's responses are not prominently featured in users' feeds and are often overlooked, whereas a comment system like Kinja's could revitalize the platform by enabling real-time interactions and reducing the glacial pace of current discussions. The article also acknowledges the effectiveness of Kinja's approach to moderating comments and combating trolling, which could be beneficial for Medium.

Opinions

Medium's current "response" system is inadequate and does not effectively facilitate community interaction.
The Kinja comment system is superior and could significantly improve user engagement on Medium.
The absence of a robust commenting feature on Medium leads to an anemic community and hinders the platform's potential for vibrant discussions.
Kinja's methods for managing trolls and inappropriate content are sophisticated and could be advantageous for Medium.
The author believes that the integration of Kinja's comment system could reinvigorate Medium's platform by allowing for more dynamic and immediate conversations.
The author suggests that the inability to engage in real-time discussions on Medium is a significant drawback, driving some users to seek interaction on other platforms, including those with less moderation like Fox News.
The article implies that Medium's attempt to differentiate "responses" from traditional comments has not been successful, as responses function similarly to comments but without the community-building aspects.

Medium Should Buy the Kinja Comment System and Slap It on Here

Ev Williams, Why Didn’t You Buy the Gawker Pieces When You Had the Chance?

I still mourn the loss of Gawker, and once upon a time hoped that Gawker writers would make their way here. Many of them did, but, as far as I know, none of them stayed.

Still, my blogging utopia is some kind of marriage between the Soul Blogging of Medium, with its interface, and the comments of Gawker.

If you don’t know why I pine for Gawker, take a look at one of the remaining sub-blogs, Deadspin, and read the comments on the following article:

Report: Donald Trump Didn't Actually Do Anything To Free UCLA Players Detained In China

Remember when Donald Trump made a big stink about he personally liberated three UCLA basketball players who were…

deadspin.com

YOU HAVE TO READ THE COMMENTS

They aren’t the best comments, though Deadspin has a reputation of having the best commenters on the tubes. The comments on that article are kind of run-of-the-mill comments, but they are better reading than MOST OF THE “OPINION” CRAP PUBLISHED BY PUBLISHERS.

Here is a simple choice: Do you want to read Maureen Dowd and Charles Blow, or would you rather read HotDogCannon and DrewPWeiner? Hey, that should be a pull-quote.

Do you want to read Maureen Dowd and Charles Blow, or would you rather read HotDogCannon and DrewPWeiner?

Medium’s “responses” don’t work. As a frequent “responder” I have a suspicion that they have been increasingly deprecated in the algorithm so that they don’t show up in people’s feeds. People only seem to see responses in the chum boxes at the bottom of stories or at the bottom of the originating article.

So, you see, responses are really comments, even if Medium wanted them to be something different. They are orphaned blubs of text that are, more or less, stuck onto the bottom of a story (but not nested or meaningfully ordered).

You could always “respond” to someone else’s blog post by creating a stand alone “story” and LINKING TO THE POST YOU WERE RESPONDING TO.

So we have responses, which we didn’t need, and no functioning comment section. Here is the problem. No comments means no community.

No comments = no community

That’s why Medium’s community is so anemic right now. It’s hard to have a conversation. The pace is so glacial, you can’t respond in real time.

This is sick, but yesterday I was so comment deprived that I went onto the Fox News site and trolled the commenters there. I wish I could feel bad about my shitposting “slip”, but you know what? I had a great time. I was really, really, fucking fun.

The astute among you will say that therein lies the problem. That when I say “comments”, I mean I want to be able to troll. One of the beautiful things about Medium is that they may be the first platform to substantially control Trolling. Advantage normal people.

Deadspin comments run on the Kinja platform. Kinja does a lot to combat trolls. It’s a complicated system. Remember, they were the ones that had to find a solution to the rape .gif problem.

We Have a Rape Gif Problem and Gawker Media Won't Do Anything About It

Working at Gawker Media is a dream job for many of the women on staff here at Jezebel. This is a place that takes…

jezebel.com

What if Medium licensed the Kinja commenting system and slapped in on here? Wouldn’t that be FUN???? Maybe it should be a pull-quote.

Medium should buy the Kinja comment system and slap it on here.

Maybe that should be a headline.

Oh, wait. It already is.