It's easier than ever to snipe at someone anonymously, or behind the curtain of a clever username.
But some would argue that this type of dialogue isn't contributing anything worthwhile to society – instead, it's, at best, people enjoying hearing the sound of their own voice, or, at worst, using it as a space to promote hateful speech.
That was one of the arguments the Las Vegas Review-Journal made last week when it shut down its comment boards. The RJ said it simply doesn't have the ability to police every comment users make on its site, and that it's too much of a liability to have comments on their site that promote what it calls "libelous and violent content." It does say, though, that this is just a trial period – the comments could come back later.
So, this begs the question: are these comments adding something to the greater conversations about news and current events in a community?
Or, with every snarky comment made online, does it lessen our ability to communicate with each other offline?
"You'd see about 20 comments a day on the political articles in the RJ comments section, and about six to eight of them are from people who have this need to comment on everything," Howard Beckerman told KNPR's State of Nevada. "That's their life. They troll the paper."
Despite the lack of substance in some of the comments, Beckerman said he thinks they still should be kept around.
"You have one or two comments that are very reasonable, and should be the grounds for a dialogue and discourse," he said. "Those are the ones worth reading and worth keeping the comments for."
Sometimes, the heated nature of social media commentary has bled over into face-to-face interactions, according to LaDeana Gamble, a justice court administrator and deputy clerk for the Las Vegas Township Justice Court
"It used to be that, if you had a dispute, you would go to the neighbor's residence, or there was more direct communication with individuals," she said. "But now, in the age of social media, [...] oftentimes when the conflict is brought to the attention of another, it's by someone informing -- I saw it on Facebook, or I received an Instagram. It has put a whole different spin on conflicts that come to the attention of the court."
She said that, as a result, the court finds that people are often unwilling to say things in person that were said on social media.
One of the ways the problems with online commenting could be alleviated, according to Al Tompkins of the Poynter Institute, would be to remove the ability to remain anonymous.
"Use your name and tell people how to contact you," he said. "I noticed you didn't have any of us come on as nameless people. You have to be responsible for what you say, and I think that's right."
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LaDeana Gamble, justice court administrator and deputy clerk, Las Vegas Township Justice Court; Al Tompkins, senior faculty member, Poynter Institute; Howard Beckerman, civic leader and chair of the planning committee, Temple Sinai
