Comment Section Patterns Identified

Identify and Describe Patterns in the Genre’s Features

1. What content is typically included or excluded? How is the content treated? What sorts of examples are used? What counts as evidence (personal testimony, facts, etc.)?

…Content in this genre of comment sections is usually treated with little attention or respect. Since anybody from anywhere can say anything with a comment they are to be taken with a grain of salt.

2. What rhetorical appeals are used? What appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos appear?

… The pathos appeal is a person’s reaction to the post they will comment on the post may invoke an emotion in them that they can not bottle up and must express their opinion. Credibility is difficult to find in a comment section, which makes the ethos appeal tough to get behind here.  The appeal to logos in comment sections may be considered nonexistent if you are a person who believes nothing from random people online, and that is smart for the most part but there are those few comments that provide a well-balanced argument of some sort, it is rare though.

3. How are texts in the genres structured? What are their parts, and how are they organized?

…The texts in a comment section usually range from messy and without grammar to a little grammar but still pretty messy.

4. In what format are texts of this genre presented? What layout or appearance is common? How long/big is a typical text in this genre?

…Usually a good comment is one sentence, depending on the subject material at hand it varies. A very serious video and YouTube can contain very long comments, but then there are places like Twitter where a person a certain character count they can use.

5. What types of “sentences” do texts in the genre typically use? How long are they? Are they simple or complex, passive or active? Are the sentences varied? Do they share a certain style?

…Simple sentences are used dominantly in this genre, typically they lack punctuation and tend to focus on an argument or a joke without grammar.

6. What diction is most common? What types of words (or symbols, images, etc.) are most frequent? Is a type of jargon used? Is slang used? How would you describe a typical writer’s tone?

…Depending on the media platform it varies. Twitter replies frequently use pictures, gifs, or memes in their responses to a tweet, and a well-received reply usually carries a tone of humor, whether it is sarcasm or taunting. Instagram, specifically YouTube, comment sections can only use text in their comments, so this leads to more carefully crafted comments to get their point and tone across.

7. In what format are texts of this genre presented? What layout or appearance is common? How long is a typical text in this genre?

…The texts are very argument forward and they are usually fairly short depending on the subject material.

Analyze What These Patterns Reveal About the Situation and Scene

1. What do these patterns reveal about the genre, its situation, and the people who use it?

… There is a certain level of prestige and respect rewarded amongst a popular comment section. The lowest of the low are deemed “trolls” and they typically spam comments or say something so vulgar and lacking wit that they are ignored, usually. The people who have a normal comment that isn’t drastic or over the top may get some feedback back nothing more, they are respectable. A drastic over the top comment that has something to do with the post above gets the most attention and positive feedback in a comment section, these types of commenters get the most respect.

• How is the subject of the genre treated? What content is considered most important? What content (topics or details) is ignored?

…The most important content in this genre is the original post in which the comments are in reply to, without an original post this genre doesn’t exist for there is nothing for the commenters to talk about. Usually the personal bias from any individual commenter plays a big role in how the content is shaped, different commenters ignore different types of content.

• What values, beliefs, goals, and assumptions are revealed through the genre’s patterns?

…One’s own values and beliefs are expressed through their own comment in this genre, meaning that there are A LOT of opinions being expressed in every comment section on every media platform.

• What actions does the genre enable? What actions does the genre constrain??

…This genre enables an unlimited amount of written actions people can use against each other, whether it may be in a kind way or a hurtful way, and it is usually used in a hurtful way across all media platforms. One common constraint amongst all platforms is the ability to flag someone’s comment if it is hurtful or offends, but rarely does the media platform actually take it down.  Twitter may be the only platform that restrains something in their comments with a character count for tweets. But other than that, the only there aren’t many other constraints for this genre.