A few months ago, I stumbled across a Triond article that purported to explain how it’s possible to get a Rapidshare premium account for free.  The gist of the explanation was that, by submitting enough articles, photos, audio and videos to Triond, you would eventually accumulate enough earnings to pay for a premium Rapidshare account.  I must confess that this idea – that the way of getting something for “free” is simply to earn enough money to pay for it – tickled me hugely.  I couldn’t resist leaving a mischievous comment suggesting that the article could form the template for a whole series of essays along the lines of “How to Get a Free Hat” or “How to Get a Free DVD Player”. 

At around the same time, I also left a comment on another article, which if I recall correctly was a list of proposed ‘rules’ for men written from a woman’s perspective of how to treat women correctly (I can’t recall whether it was about the dating game, or relationships more broadly).  I took issue with a couple of the author’s rules, pointed out some logical holes in them, and suggested they were perhaps examples of women wanting to ‘have their cake and eat it’. 

On both occasions, it never occurred to me that I was doing anything unusual or untoward.  As a veteran of many online forums, I’m used to simply stating when I disagree strongly with something I’ve read, and arguing my corner.  I do of course always try to do this in a constructive fashion without resorting to personal attacks. 

Consequently I was somewhat troubled to then read another article, which was a kind of ‘bible’ of dos and don’ts for Triond contributors.  One of the golden rules was never to leave a comment after an article unless you have something supportive to say.  And, indeed, casting my eye over many articles, it appeared that the vast majority of contributors here follow that rule to the letter.  Most comments are along the lines of “great work” and “thanks for sharing”.  So I must admit I felt a little chastened at that point, and came to the conclusion that I had made two ‘non-constructive” interventions that I really ought to have kept to myself, and that wouldn’t have been welcomed by the Triond community.

Then in August I read a piece by Atikin, about how school pupils across Great Britain were anxiously awaiting the results of their GCSE exams.  My instinct as a pedant took over, and without thinking I immediately left a comment pointing out that Scotland has a different exam system, and therefore the “across Great Britain” part wasn’t strictly true (it should have been England, Wales and Northern Ireland).  Soon afterwards I remembered the ‘golden rule’ and wished I hadn’t done it.  My comment was left looking inappropriately brusque, surrounded as it was by others that warmly congratulated Atikin on an informative article, and wished her well for her own GCSE results.

But to my surprise Atikin very kindly took the trouble to send me a quick message thanking me for the factual correction.  And it suddenly occurred to me afterwards – don’t the comments that I’ve been leaving do precisely the things that comments after an article ought to be doing?  Adding something the author may have missed, or suggesting an alternative point of view?  And, above all else, stimulating a healthy general debate on the article’s contents and related issues?  It seems to me that is what is so often missing here on Triond.  If genuine debates were organically springing up on articles here as regularly as they do on blogs and on mainstream news sites, it could spur the network’s popularity and growth tremendously. I feel that by self-consciously tripping over themselves to always be ‘supportive’ in any comments that they leave, Triond contributors are unwittingly making the network seem considerably less attractive than it potentially could be to new readers who casually stumble on an article.  In a nutshell, we’re inhibiting ourselves from truly bringing this network to life.

So if I was to rewrite the ‘Triond bible’ that I read a few months ago, it would say this – a) do be respectful, but b) do argue, debate, and generally take issue robustly with anything you see that you happen to disagree with.

So if you leave a comment on this article, why not argue with me.  Go on, I dare you!