Blog Analysis

Jeff Atwood’s article “Because Reading is Fundamental” aims to persuade readers that listening is more valuable than writing, specifically when it comes to online communications. Atwood’s argument is directed towards anyone who participates in online communications, like chatrooms, forums, and comment sections. His main concern is that very few users read whole articles before rushing to comment, thus comment sections end up full of misinformation and repetitive comments that do not provide any real debate, it is simply users trying to shout their own opinion over everyone else’s.

Atwood uses two different examples to prove his point, the first being the Ars Banana Experiment, which uses embedded text in an article asking readers to make a comment about bananas in the comment section, it took until the 93^rd commenter before bananas were mentioned, meaning none of the previous 92 people bothered to read the whole article before adding their two cents, backing up Atwood’s argument. While the experiment showcases Atwood’s point, it would have been beneficial to talk about where the article was posted, and the demographic of readers who may have been reading. Different online platforms may emphasize reading, while others put emphasis on the numbers of comments or posting a user does. The platform which the article was posted could affect readers and commentators. Even better, the article can be posted to multiple sites using varying topics, diversifying users who may see the article, adding diversity and repeat-ability to the experiment.

The second example he uses is data collected from The Slate Experiment, showing 50% of users do not read an article all the way through. This example provides statistical data for Atwood’s point and adds credibility to his writing. The data is convincing but could be stronger if information regarding how the data was collected, as well as the demographic of the readers was provided.

Atwood than goes on to propose solutions to incentivize listening, including removing pagination, rewarding those who read whole articles, measuring time spent on an article, and updating articles instantaneously. Some of his solutions make sense, but a few are very hard to realistically achieve. How can you effectively measure read time vs time a page is left open, in addition, how can you reward those who read all the way through if you have no way to ensure they have?

Atwood does create a compelling argument, but the biggest problem is, if users are reading rather than commenting, than very little new content will be made. While his points are not wrong, ideally a balance between reading and listening needs to be found. Atwood’s article serves as a warning to online communicators about the importance of reading an article all the way through, and the reality that comment sections are not always the best places to gain knowledge.