The SFBG comment section is dominated by a handful of posters who have fun with each other playing in the same sandbox. The main activity seems to be throwing sand in each other's face and then gloating about it. Over 50% of the comments here are by these apparently very lonely and bored individuals.

Very little of import takes place in the comment section other than people embarrassing themselves with often stupid, shallow, and disgusting comments. Most posters are smart enough to hide behind an alias so that they don't lose credibility, influence or friendships with any "real people" they work or socialize with outside the comment section. Although ironically, the most articulate and thoughtful poster for my taste is "Greg," who appears to be a real person. The only other poster worth reading for content, instead of the hate and snark of the majority of other posters, is Eddie. But for the most part we post and read the comments here for entertainment and our own boredom, not to gain any great insights about a subject or to have a serious conversation about complicated issues. That's why people working on issues meet in person, listen to others, and formulate plans that most can agree on. There's way too much static here on the comment section that attracts a large number of unloved or unwanted children to accomplish anything useful.

In contrast to the comment play area where the lonely, bored, juvenile, and apparently mis-diagnosed congregate, the SFBG articles continue to be a powerful outlet for groups pushing for or against legislative or budgetary changes. Nothing gets done in the world without first organizing the tasks to be accomplished, and the SFBG articles often help tremendously with organization, messaging, and outreach efforts. The SFBG's endorsements are also very important in local elections, along with the DCCC, Milk, and SFTU slate cards. When these groups agree on a particular candidate or ballot proposition, they can make the difference in an election outcome. That's significant political power.

Because of the important organizing role the SFBG plays in the local community and its political endorsement power, commenters are attracted here to either push back or support a particular candidate or organizing effort. Since many people are quite happy with the status quo, anything to thwart the efforts of a potentially powerful outlet like the SFBG that is challenging the status quo is going to attract a lot of haters and noise makers to disrupt these efforts. And like many areas of life where there is perceived power, the site also seems to attract a fair number of wanna be "players" who live off the power of others, either as supporters or detractors.

The take-away is the SFBG plays an very important political role in the community; the comment board is mostly a play area for lonely and marginalized malcontents; and we post and read comments because we have nothing more productive to do with our time.