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Popular Science Turned Off Comments Because They Failed to Adapt

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5 pointskguppta2 comments
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This is silly; why should Pop Sci work so hard to "adapt" to a site feature whose existence is entirely under their control?

I suppose one could make the argument that Pop Sci failed to adapt to a cultural reality that websites must have comment systems. But I don't think that actually is a cultural reality. There are successful sites that have never had comments at all, and numerous publications have demoted their comment systems to a second screen or hidden tab, with no ill effects. If you look at hot new content platforms like Medium, Quartz, etc., they are built from day one without comments.

I think Pop Sci has adapted to a new reality--a reality in which meaningful conversation has migrated to conversation-centric platforms like social media and news aggregators (like HN).

Exactly. I wish we could see your comment "score" here because I have no doubt that everyone who has read the article and read your comment upvoted you.

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