Online Comments

This morning I ran across a study that says inflammatory online comments are better at changing someone’s mind than civil comments [ link ]. Sounds intuitive enough. Provocation is more commanding than reason. However I’d like to see a study that shows how relevant these online comments really are. Most of the one’s I’ve read have little to do with the topic they’re commenting on and more to do with broadcasting whatever’s on someone’s mind. For instance, I bet comments on an article about Ben Affleck wining the Oscars will mention Jennifer Lopez almost as often as they mention the movie Argo.