August 24, 2017
A new study has found something that should not surprise any Philadelphian who has spent any amount of time on the comment sections for local news websites.
The study, conducted by Wired in partnership with comment platform Disqus, tried to find the worst places in the United States for internet trolls.
Wired analyzed 92 million comments over a 16-month period on Disqus, a commonly used program for media outlets, including PhillyVoice. They looked at almost 2 million individual commenters on more than 7,000 separate forums.
German data research company Statista took Wired's findings and put them in a nice little chart. And what do you know: Just behind Las Vegas, in second place, is Philly, with 10.7 percent of all comments being deemed hostile.
"But most outspoken commenters on the Philadelphia interwebs are so thoughtful and polite," said one badly misinformed, hypothetical person.
Philly Internet is full of a-holes #SHOCKED https://t.co/ZyynDboFgI
— Enrico (@The700Level) August 24, 2017
You can read more about the study here. Please leave your measured and insightful responses in the comments below.
