This California city has a massive troll problem
Something is up in Bellflower, California — citizens there seem to have a lot of bile to spew.
Nearly a third of all the online comments made by people living in the Southern California city over the last 16 months were hostile or toxic, according to a new report by Wired that was based on data from Disqus. That proportion of hostile comments was 335% higher than proportion for the rest of the state, according to the report.
The magazine and Disqus, a company that offers online discussion services for web sites, analyzed 92 million comments from internet users nationwide that were left over a 16-month period. The magazine and Disqus defined toxic comments as ones that are "rude, disrespectful, or unreasonable" and that would be likely to make someone "leave a discussion."
Some 32.7% of the comments coming from Bellflower qualified as toxic. By comparison, only 8.1% of the comments emanating from neighboring Los Angeles were considered as toxic.
So what's Bellflower's problem? On the surface, it doesn't seem to be a bad place. But who knows what angers the trolls.
Bellflower calls itself "The Friendly City."
It appears to be a standard suburban city. Located just north of Long Beach and due east from Compton, the city is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
It's a medium-sized city with a relatively young population — and a quite a bit of crime.
Some 77,790 people lived in Bellflower as of last year, and the median age of its residents was 32, according to US Census data.
The city is definitely not Beverly Hills; the median household income in Bellflower in 2015 was $48,823, according to Census data.
The city also isn't exactly quiet. With some 163 crimes per 10,000 people over a recent six month period, according to data from the Los Angeles Times, it has its share of crime problems. That's above average for the Los Angeles area.
Still, Bellflower has fewer problems with crime than some of its neighbors, the data indicates.
City residents and visitors aren't thrilled with it.
Like other cities, Bellflower has its own Yelp page. It doesn't have a lot of reviews, but it gets a middling grade from those who have taken the time to rate it — just two-and-a-half stars.
Many of the comments are pretty negative, complaining about rude city employees and trash on the streets. The city's apparently overzealous parking and traffic enforcement drew particular ire.
"What a dump," one reviewer wrote on Yelp. "From the cops handing out tickets right and left for little things instead of going after the crime, car break-ins, robberies, drug dealers, [etc.]
"I just visit when I need to, but if I was a citizen, I would move the f*** out."
But like that person, many of the people who gave the city negative comments were visitors. And some who commented had better things to say.
According to one reviewer, who gave the city top marks, Bellflower is an "awesome little city. [It's] got that small town feel."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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