The Good, The Bad, and The Indifferent

A recent comment left on the website reminded me of another comment that had been sent several months ago.

A user who goes by the name tbdldam wrote, "It's nice to read such a wonderful story for a change!! Kudos Sabrina!!" in regard to the state's National Emergency Number Association (911 NENA) honoring 8-year-old Sabrina Terstegge for her calm and cool demeanor when she had to call 911 after her grandmother fell in their kitchen.

The comment reminded me of another comment made several months ago. Keep in mind, we get several comments daily on stories, blogs, etc.

But several months ago, one comment on a story struck my interest.

The comment (paraphrased, of course) stated The Times' office should look into printing more feel-good stories.

The simple answer is: We'd love to.

We want to write feel-good stories. Trust me, no one wants to spend their entire day writing about doom and gloom, specifically with all the doom and gloom going on across the nation.

Fast forward to Monday. I'm reading through recent comments and I come across the one from tbdldam.

It's a great comment about a wonderful little girl. She should be commended for what she did. Her calm demeanor might have saved her grandmother.

I'm quite certain at age 8, I -- more than likely -- wouldn't have had the capacity to deal with such an issue.

But this comment struck me like the one from several months ago.

I remember the one from a few months ago specifically.

The very next day, we were called about a Staunton Elementary School teacher receiving an award from an area restaurant.

My first thought was, this is the type of story the "commentor" was referring to.

Feel-good stories. Once again, not all reporters want to get in the car and chase ambulances all day.

The irony of this story? Only two people commented on that story. In contrast, I believe there may have been another arrest that day in the area. That story got the most attention, the most comments, etc.

So, I decided Monday to conduct my own little "non-scientific" poll. I was never really great in the world of science, but it seemed like the thing to do.

I looked at this month's stories (located on the front page only) and divided them into three categories: The Good, The Bad and The Indifferent.

The Good have outweighed the other two categories by far this month.

More than 30 to be precise.

What about The Bad? Less than 10.

The Indifferent? Again, less than 10.

And yet, no comments.

Scientifically speaking, this seems to tell me people only want to comment on anything bad.

I guess the real question here is why?