Hats off to Townhall Commenters

Dwayne Horner | August 20, 2009 1:36 PM

I have often been disappointed in comments posted to blogs. Those of you who are frequent readers probably have noted that I will sometimes even wade into the comments section, myself. Unpleasant comments, of course, are not exclusive to Townhall -- most websites have problems with irascible commenters and liberal trolls.

However, I was impressed to see that, before they degenerated into the normal shout-fest, the first several comments for my latest post about RealDVD were actually very thoughtful and helpful.

One commenter named "reset" made a very good observation when he/she wrote of Hollywood:

They want to make you pay for your products over and over again so that they can continue to cash in on movies like Harry Potter long after they are released.

Even though they are selling you a product, the studios still feel that they are legally entitled to prevent you from being able to watch their movies if they so choose.

This is not how retail works. When you purchase a product, you now own that product. George Foreman is not going to come into your kitchen and tell you that you've used up your trial version of his grill and now have to pay a $10 monthly fee, but this is the direction that the Hollywood studios want to go.

Another commenter going by the name "Jackpine Savage" noted:

When home cassette recorders hit the marketm, the music industry spent millions trying to block their sale, because they figured no one would buy records of they could tape off the radio.

When the VCR forst hit the market, the movie industry screamed that no one would ever go to the theatre if they could watch movies at home.

Now they make more money from sales of dvds than they do from the theatres.

The movie industry is basically that Parody of conservatives tat liberals believe we are.

Change scares ... them.

These comments were helpful, inasmuch as they 1). discussed the topic at hand, 2). did not degrade into name-calling or personal insults, 3). provided a thoughtful and logical critique of the situation, and 4). actually added new information and insight to the points I was trying to make.

Interestingly, my argument in favor of Hollywood embracing RealDVD (and similar technologies) is that modern consumers crave interactive entertainment -- and that you deprive them of that opportunity at your peril. By engaging in this thoughtful discussion on this blog, Townhall commenters have essentially proven my point.