Flagging uncivil user comments: Effects of intervention information, type of victim, and response comments on bystander behavior

Abstract

The study investigates flagging behavior as specific type of bystander intervention against uncivil user comments in comments sections on news sites. Two experimental studies examine the effects of intervention information, characteristics of response comments, and the type of victim attacked in a comment on flagging behavior, that is on reporting a comment to professional moderators. Our results indicate that intervention information is a promising strategy to motivate flagging. Flagging is based on responsibility attribution to professional moderators but not on self-responsibility perception. Type of victim and characteristics of other users' posted responses to preceding comments (public disagreement and politeness) shape deviance perceptions of the situation and influence flagging behavior.

News Values, Cognitive Biases, and Partisan Incivility in Comment Sections

“…It seems questionable whether addressing incivility by rejecting comments containing it is the best solution. Other strategies, such as involving journalists in comment sections (Chen & Pain, in press; Stroud et al, ; Ziegele & Jost, in press), encouraging users to sanction comments (Naab et al, in press), or changing the design of the comment section (Sukumaran, Vezich, McHugh, & Nass, ), may be more promising.…”

“…We do know that recommendations vary depending on the comment content and the user's attitudes (Stroud, Muddiman, & Scacco, in press). Flagging rates vary depending on whether there are explicit instructions about flagging, the incivility contained in a comment, and how other users respond (Naab, Kalch, & Meitz, in press). Naab et al's experimental work looked at how people respond to clearly uncivil comments.…”

Uncivil User Comments Increase Users’ Intention to Engage in Corrective Actions and Their Support for Authoritative Restrictive Actions

“…Additionally, the model includes participatory Facebook use. Readers who generally engage more often actively in social media, are more experienced and will also engage more likely in specific situations (Naab et al, 2018).…”

Is Politeness Catalytic and Contagious? Effects on Participation in Online News Discussions

“…The findings of the discursive strategies employed by news commenters and their effects on participation by subsequent discussants provide a view of the social interactions among commenters and repliers in news comment sections that extends beyond attempts to confirm the prevalence of uncivil messages [11] or explore predictors of flaming behavior [10]. Moreover, this study elucidates how commenters and repliers seek to construct and maintain a favorable public self-image and autonomy in opinion formation and respond to each other's face wants through different discursive strategies, by going beyond the dichotomy of politeness and impoliteness [27] to distinguish between positive and negative politeness.…”

“…However, attempts to use this framework to examine comment sections are relatively few. A recent study of online news comments [27] drew on [5]'s theory, but it did not incorporate the concepts of positive and negative politeness, and it conflated the terms impoliteness and incivility. The politeness analysis of the present study contributes to the literature on online public discourse by expanding [5]'s approach to comment research in a nuanced and systematic manner.…”