Introduction

Here is a draft of the first couple of paragraphs of an article I planned on writing about NOLA.com comments, before starting this blog:

[Handle] thinks that blacks are ruining the city and that we need white leadership. [Handle] thinks that the problem is black mothers and their unwilling to work and their expectation of government handouts. [Handle] seems to enjoy, every time someone is murdered, writing “blip” to express the worthlessness of the lost life.These opinions come from a new stable of writers working for Si Newhouse and in their expressions of racism, hatred, rage, and indignation, they represent the publishing giant’s hope that, despite the collapse of profitability in newspapers and magazines, online forums and comments sections in Newhouse websites can squeeze blood from the stone and turn a profit on its newspaper comments.

To be clear, none of these “writers” are paid by Newhouse. They volunteer their opinions in comments to articles in New Orleans’ Newhouse owned Times Picayune that appear on the Newhouse owned website, nola.com.