New York Times commenters

The New York Times ran this piece Nov. 23, 2015, about its most prolific online commenters. This is another example of online comments being taken seriously and shown in a positive light. This view of people who post comments is a contrast to the image of angry diatribes from social discontents. (We have enough of that, I know.)

Here is the introduction to the piece:

In recent years, a core group of commenters have helped to transform The New York Times for the digital era. Their voices have enhanced our journalism, offering new information, insight and analysis on many of the day’s most pressing issues.

These frequent commenters have also become a community, one that has its own luminaries.

But who are they? We decided to take a look at some of the most popular commenters on The Times site, which receives around 9,000 online comments a day.

Here are some of these stars, based on a statistical analysis of how often their comments have been recommended, as well as the judgment of Times comment moderators. 

As of Dec. 2 the article had attracted 1,402 comments. :)