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''Reading the Comments: Likers, Haters, and Manipulators at the Bottom of the Web'' is a 2015 non-fiction book by Northeastern University professor Joseph M. Reagle Jr. The book was first published on April 24, 2015 through
The book has eight chapters and gives an overview of comments on the Internet. Reagle covers the concept of Internet anonymity and references Plato's
MIT Press
The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962.
History
The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...
and deals with the subject of Internet comments in locations like YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
, Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
, and forums.
Synopsis
The book has eight chapters and gives an overview of comments on the Internet. Reagle covers the concept of Internet anonymity and references Plato's Ring of Gyges
The Ring of Gyges ( grc, Γύγου Δακτύλιος, ''Gúgou Daktúlios'', ) is a hypothetical magic ring mentioned by the philosopher Plato in Book 2 of his ''Republic'' (2:359a–2:360d). It grants its owner the power to become invisible a ...
story, comparing the ring's power of invisibility to the ability to remain seemingly anonymous on the Internet. Topics covered in the book include the manipulation of online reviews in locations like Yelp
Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San F ...
, trolling
In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the i ...
, and online threats of rape and violence.
Reception
Critical reception for ''Reading the Comments'' has been mixed. Much of the book's criticism centered on what the critics felt was a lack of depth and ''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' commented that this gave the book a "frustrating sense of missed opportunity, of mere comprehensiveness", particularly when covering the subjects of Donglegate and Anita Sarkeesian
Anita Sarkeesian ( ; born 1983) is a Canadian-American feminist media critic and public speaker. She is the founder of '' Feminist Frequency'', a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. She h ...
's Tropes vs. Women in Video Games. ''The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'' gave an overall favorable opinion of ''Reading the Comments'', praising Reagle for his observation skills.
References
External links
* 2015 non-fiction books Books about the Internet MIT Press books {{internet-book-stub