I think, comments on websites have been most important in deciding and influencing public opinion. I know this mostly from personal experience. I tend to read some youtube comment on a comedy sketch video and agree with whatever the comment says is the funniest part of the video. When I read some negative comment on some character that I hadn't really had an opinion of before, I end up disliking that character a bit.
On issues that I have strong feelings myself, I do not feel being swayed much by people's comments. But I hate to read comments on news sites. It is not so much that some commenter disagrees with my viewpoint, but it is that I know that it ends up influencing people negatively. By this I simply mean that the reader is unconsciously led to taking some viewpoint that he/she has not considered and thought much about before adopting it as his/her own (and not that any view other than mine is negative, duh!). Also, the point of comments on a news site is a concept that is very unacceptable to me. I understand comment sections on opinions. In fact comments on opinion pieces are important and help keep a balance. Opinions must be open to debate and disagreement. But why on news reports?
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