Rude or inflammatory user comments can harm the credibility of online research, according to new research which could hold wider implications for the internet at large.
Professor Dominique Brossard from the University of Wisconsin in Michigan found that comments made on blogs could alter the perceived authority of scientific work.
The study, first published in Engineering and Technology magazine, indicates that blog comments could alter how nanotechnology was viewed by people.
The online experiment sampled a representative cross section of 2,338 Americans where the civility of blog comments was manipulated, like introducing name-calling into commentary tacked onto an otherwise balanced newspaper blog post.
Results showed that comments could elicit either lower or higher perceptions of risk, depending on one’s predisposition to the science of nanotechnology.
Name calling in comments was said to alter how people saw the risks associated with nanotechnology, with some groups from religious backgrounds perceiving a higher risk.
“It seems we don’t really have a clear social norm about what is expected online,” said Dominique Brossard, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of Life Science Communication, contrasting online forums with public meetings where prescribed decorum helps keep discussion civil. “In the case of blog postings, it’s the Wild West.”