What's the Value of Anonymous Comments?
News organizations were willing to reconsider anonymity in part because comment pages brought in little revenue; advertisers generally do not like to buy space next to opinions, especially incendiary ones.
via nytimes.com
Of course this NYT story is promoting the direction their site is moving, but the most telling point I found was in the statement above. Often overlooked in the debate as to whether readers should or should not be allowed to post anonymous comments is the question -- "What do you stand to gain from empty pageviews that are difficult to monetize, rarely read beyond the first 10 and lead to management and legal headaches." I'd also add slideshow story presentations to this family of pageview-first, user-second strategies.
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