Article translated by Owen Huchon — Original version, written by Hanaa' Tameez, published on the Nieman Lab website on February 19, 2025.
For years, newsrooms have wondered what to do with their comment sections. Some users can be hostile or spread misinformation and contribute to moderator burnout. Several media outlets restricted commenting to registered users only or to subscribers. Some developed their own comment platforms while others threw in the towel, redirecting their readers to social networks to share their views.
In 2022, German news outlet Der Spiegel was recording approximately 1.7 million comments per month on its articles. According to Laura Badura, product lead, this volume far exceeded what readers could view and what moderators were able to handle. The outlet thus completely redesigned the comments section on its website.
After a year of design and testing, Der Spiegel launched in December 2023 its centralized discussion space, called "Debate", where readers can discuss the most important topics of the day. After fourteen months of use, Laura Badura observed an improvement in comment quality. While this feature is not a major subscription driver, she notes that subscribers who participate spend more time on the site.
A new discussion space
Every day, the media's moderation team (made up of members of the social media team) develops about four closed debate questions—"yes or no"—on current events of the day. Debates are visible free of charge to registered users, but only paying subscribers can comment on them. In parallel, comments on individual articles are disabled.
Here are the questions asked during the debate on February 19:
- The countdown is on: Do you have questions about the federal elections?
- The United States turns away from Europe: Can crisis become an opportunity?
- Do you want the Greens to participate in government?
- Criticism of the Greens' economic policy: CSU leader Söder "should focus on his own record" – Do you agree?
Other recent debates include: "Are feminist issues being neglected in political debate?", "Does Europe need its own military with nuclear weapons?" and "Can Europe keep up with the global AI race through new investments?"
The Debate platform resembles a Reddit feed organized around and tightly focused on a single topic (the primary color of Der Spiegel is also a shade of orange similar to Reddit's). The interface encourages readers to vote in a poll and displays articles related to the question. Subscribers can then write their own comments, respond to others, and share discussion posts on social media. They can also suggest future discussion topics to Spiegel and vote for or against suggestions. (One popular suggestion that gathered 52 votes: "Gulf of America: Should journalists show solidarity with AP representatives and refrain from attending other press conferences?")
The Spiegel moderators draw on these suggestions for upcoming debate topics. Among recently selected themes: "Are the United States still a reliable partner for Germany?" and "Would a 1,000 euro bonus for one year of continuous work be an appropriate incentive for the long-term unemployed?"
Mutual benefits
The Debate platform has been mutually beneficial for subscribers and the editorial team, assures Laura Badura. While commenters can participate in constructive conversations and learn from one another, Spiegel moderators benefit from a more manageable workload. The Debate platform's software uses artificial intelligence to flag comments likely to be hateful or offensive. Laura Badura assures that the comment approval rate on Debate is 90%, compared to around 85% with the previous commenting system.
This space also gives journalists a better understanding of public opinion on the topics they cover. For Laura Badura, the previous comment system underneath each article made it difficult to analyze the overall sentiment of readers on a subject or question. If Der Spiegel published, for example, 20 articles on Donald Trump's inauguration, the old comment-based system would have left moderators countless messages and discussions to handle across 20 different pages.
"The editorial teams are much more satisfied with this discussion space than they were with the old comments sections," notes Laura Badura. Journalists at Spiegel can create links to relevant discussions in their articles, and the homepage features prominent links directing readers to these exchanges. "Sometimes a discussion turns out to be the most-read article on our site," she explains. "This motivates users to write interesting comments because they can then be featured on our homepage."
An architecture designed to foster exchange
In addition to a clearly worded question, comments are divided into a green "yes" column and a red "no" column and can be sorted by most popular, most recent, oldest, and most relevant. Each debate is open for only 24 hours (though they can be reopened or extended depending on the question, notes Laura Badura). Users can also comment on both sides, since few questions have an obvious answer.
The format and features were designed based on extensive research with users. Der Spiegel, like other publications, had considered getting rid of its comments section, but survey results showed that users wanted a largely public forum to safely discuss current events with others.
« We asked why they don't publish comments on Facebook or elsewhere. Commenting on Der Spiegel represents for them the guarantee of a certain level of moderation. They want a shared space but these [current] places lack [oversight]. Some have said they need a safe space somewhere on the Internet and would like Der Spiegel to offer them this possibility. »
Commenters can create usernames and choose from a range of avatars for their profiles to avoid having to use their full names or real photos. It's possible to add short biographies that display next to the topics they comment on most frequently, along with their number of published contributions and proposed discussion ideas. Users earn points based on the length of their comments, which encourages them to write more detailed and substantive messages.
Foster positive engagement
One of the main features fostering civility in exchanges lies in a subtle detail: each comment has only a heart-shaped button, allowing only positive reactions. Laura Badura explains that Debate did offer negative votes for a period, but the team removed that feature to make the environment more friendly (users can still report comments to moderators).
"We don't want to discourage participants by giving them negative votes," she explains. "Our goal isn't to create an unpleasant feeling. We know they'll post solid arguments if they disagree, which makes negative voting unnecessary."
To go further
- How to create useful products for your audience? Max Leroy, a product and design specialist in media who has worked at Le Monde, POLITICO in Europe, CNN and the New York Times, was a guest on the third season of Chemins.
- A few tips for creating and managing your comment section intelligently to make it a lively, accessible and welcoming space
- Reader clubs, societies of friends… There are other ways to bring your readers together and get them involved in your media. Here are a few examples.
