The Freakonomics Blog linked to a touching story this morning about Carnegie Melon computer Scientist Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer. Seriously good read, if possibly a little short. What struck me were the comments on the post. Stephen Dubner comments that he will give a dollar to anyone who makes it to the end without crying. The fourth comment is “You owe me a dollar.” In the first 22 comments, three other commenters say the same thing. For some reason, this really bothers me. Not that people didn’t tear up. Who cares about that — some people get emotional, some people don’t. What bothers me is the willingness with which people are willing to share their opinions, even if the contribution is only contrarian. Pre-Internet, there are two responses to this situation: (1) I cried, and (2) I didn’t cry. With the Internet we get the wonderful third option: (3) I may or may not have cried, but I’m going to tell you I didn’t — now give me that dollar. Oh well. (Note: Freakonomics comments are generally of a higher quality than most blogs.)

This reminded me of YouTube comments, if only because they are so ridiculous. Seriously, YouTube commenting is the concentration of the worst possible forum posts. Frequently watched videos always end up with the most depraved, racist, homophobic, sexist, perverted comments I have ever read on the Internet. College Humor mocks this commenting perfectly — funniest thing I have seen in a while (YouTube video).