The comments speak for themselves

I'm not sure that lemmy users are different in this from user of Reddit/HackerNews/Facebook/etc.
- It's never been about reading the post/ articles. Mmm?!
- I 100% did this on Reddit. And I do it here too. Most news websites are garbage and loaded with advertisements. Get halfway through the story and a full page ad pops up or a video starts playing. Honestly, does anybody stop reading to watch those videos???
  Or, you go into the comments and see the summary, or the full article, or quotes of the most important parts with discussions. If I feel I have questions, only then will I open the website.
  
  You must be the last person on Lemmy still looking at these sites the way they're displayed by default. Firefox, adblock, no script, pi hole, etc makes all that go away pretty painlessly.

I read the TLDR bot at least…
Seems like that gives 90% of the relevant info, then I view the article if there’s anything missing.
Not that it makes a difference, my opinions are formed before I even read the title. I’m dug in, and I’ll never change 😎
- I always read the top comment first, because often they have a better article or explain why the article is misleading
  
  Yeah, I go top comment(s) to see if the article is not clickbait. Then I'll read the summary to see if it's any good. Then I'll go to the article itself if those check out.
  
  But what if that comment is instead downvoted to death because it goes against the community opinions?
- I generally do this because the articles are often behind paywalls.
- The real truth!
- I'm dug in, and I'll never change 😎
  'Cause we don't have to! 'Cause we're AMERICANS! We won't change our minds on anything, regardless of the facts that are set out before us.
  Rock, flag, and eagle! Right, li10?

I prefer to only read the top line of a meme then post. And no that's not a Lemmy user, that's squidward
- Right!? Everyone but us is so stupid for talking about Lemmy (who ever that is) in here, while this is obviously squidward. Sheeple are so stupid!
- The cellist?

I don't want to read the thing. I want to discuss the thing that i didn't read with other people who didn't read the thing.
- Did you read the thing? Because I didn't and I don't like your opinion on that topic!

Many articles are only accessible via a VPN, blocked either by my side or theirs. I'm too tired to switch it on and off. Summary bot is very helpful.
- Yep, 95% of the news site are cancer
  
  I wasn't talking about that.

modern websites are a pain to navigate with popups, paywall, ads, heavy tracking that slows down navigation, autoplaying video ads etc
modern journalism = let's just report whatever the person or company says without fact checking, contextualizing or taking a stance. I believe this is done because it takes less effort and because it makes sure that the news org doesn't anger any of the persons/organizations it has tides with (for ads or direct funding)
The comments solve both problems, as lemmy is ad- and tracking-free and the people in the comments are mostly real people usually without any vested interests in the things they're discussing.
So OBVIOUSLY I only read the comments. I'll get the content of the article indirectly as it's being discussed.
- Also you can use the comments to determine if the article is even worth reading so you don't accidentally give a click to some hack journalism.
- This is absolutely true. I get more information and understanding from the discussion in the comments than I do the article. Using other platforms I want to read what people are discussing about the article than the article itself. Brings more depth to the conversation and the article.
- When I see a lot of 💩 on the site, I use Firefox's reader mode.
  archive.md, 12ft.io or the "Bypass paywalls clean" extension for paywalls
  I have Ublock origin to block the tracking.

I read comments first mostly because a lot of posted articles are behind a paywall or i have to turn off my adblockers and maybe someone posted a tldr
- Shoot, they won't just be posting a tl;dr, but a commentary on it, and sometimes really good context from their field or experience. It's basically the article, but written by a more intelligent journalist who is a part of whatever is being reported on, not just observing from interviews and phone calls (and lame corporate website 'about us' pages).
  
  Yeah thats what i mean a tldr but from ppl that know shit :)
  
  Exactly - no fluff or dancing around, they get right to the point and make concrete assertions. Then if they're wrong, people will correct them, and you get a debate that (hopefully) brings up various subtleties and connected issues for a more holistic view.
  Then if I'm still intrigued, I read the source

Same as it ever was
- Once in a lifetiiiime

Give me an archive link and I'll click it every time. Otherwise, almost never.

I thought it was standard operating procedure on the Internet.

Kinda understandable for articles from sites that pester you to disable adblocker or pay for a subscription (WSJ/Wired/Guardian type news sites etc).

Well, we've got the very useful tldr. bot.
- I remember seeing that bot make something longer once, super useful.

Comments > ads
- Who here on Lemmy is still seeing ads?
  
  I'm guessing mobile users who don't pay for apps.
  
  It reads Comments "greater than" ads not "to" or anything. Reading comments better than seeing ads in article
- You mean ads in the article? Just use a good mobile browser that supports ad blockers.

I tried to read the article but it was paywalled. Or it wanted me to turn off my ad blocker before I could read the article. Or it was a video. Or the source was something like www.patriotusaeaglenews.ru.
- The first two can often be thwarted by turning off Javascript. And if it still doesn't work, it probably wasn't worth your time anyways.
  
  You ever used the web with javascript disabled? How do you do this on a mobile device? Are you sticking to this setting?
  Lemmy is awesome to me for this reason: Mostlikely the bot comment is either at the top, or at the bottom. Former tells me that bo expert has yet entered the conversation. Maybe I have meaningful insight (I haven't yet. My shame). The latter shows me I need to read the tldr first, before proceeding to read the conversation. Or maybe I have already cosumed the article and I am still looking for other views on it.
  Anyhow, I think it shows that the internet nowadays does no spread information, but user data.

Why would I read a long, padded, ad-riddled article when I can get a quick and accurate TL;DR in the title and expert commentary in the comments?

This is literally the entire internet.

I'll do it again!

If it's paywalled, yes. I'm just reading the title.

Yeah guilty as charged

So, what's the meme about?

Tldr?
- Too long didn't read.
  
  I won't waste my time reading your comment, but i'll waste a lot of time talking shit about how i think you commented!

I want peoples opinions on what they read. I ain’t got time lol

I feel personally attacked

Not necessarily a bad thing though.
Think of it this way: There's value in having access to a list of curated content others have deemed "worth reading or looking at". But there is just as much value in engaging in some banter, provided it doesn't lead to outright war in the comments.
I admit, it is tiresome trying to seriously discuss a topic when people haven't actually read the article, but there is still an upside to a topic triggering at least enough interest to where people actually want to engage.

YUP. So make sure your title is good.

Maybe give us a not paywalled link next time?

Sir, this is a meme.
- I didn't read the text, just came to comments to see what it was about. Now I know, this is a meme.

I wanna report this post because i see myself in the picture.

There’s articles?
- I'm just here to argue with baseless opinions

Reddit users too
- Everywhere on social media. However, I did notice I actually read through the articles more often here on lemmy.
  
  Not quite everywhere Everytime I tried doing it on Twitter or tiktok I never find any useful info in the comments
- Same people

- Much better to just post an archive link. Lemmy’s not really big enough to garner this kind of attention yet, but copying article text wholesale is a good way to get DMCA claimed and that’s not fair to do to instance admins.

Welcome to the internet.

[insert question directly answered by article here]

:)

Not just here. Everywhere!

And there's a ton of articles here with very misleading titles, specially on technology communities. At some point I noticed three large threads in a row where the article title claimed one thing but even the article itself was about something completely different.

I've seen just the opposite. The top comment points out all sorts of problems with the article beyond just the headline.
Take this one on using nitrogen asphyxiation for the death penalty: https://midwest.social/post/7581080
I'm personally against the death penalty, but this article was garbage with garbage arguments. The top comments highlight why. Not only did people read the article, but they were also clear headed enough to point out all its flaws even when they are broadly on the same side as the authors.

Always have. On /. 25 years ago we posted before reading TFA, it's the way.

Well, I'm not a lemmy user. But I generally read the comments to gauge whether it is worth reading the article.

Am i here for newspapers or for community, hm?

There weren't enough tik toks in the article
- How am I supposed to read this article without Subway Surfer?

This was much more fun in the days of Fark.
- Fark is a time machine. The jokes haven’t changed in the slightest.

Why would I risk my psyche, phone, and integrity going to a infested wild media web page, it's like you think this is reddit and I'm a curious teen

No one is here to discuss anything in good faith.

No!! Lemmings don't rush in water they live in holes🐭

Boy ain't that the truth, I like his bulging eyeballs and rabid frantic posturing. That's me, I'm all too guilty of doing the same.

I see someone posted a spongebob picture, I love spongerobert!