Digital ethnography has gained in popularity, but it is less common to (also) analyze readers’ comments on societal and scientific developments. This article aims to give insight in how such comments may be interesting for qualitative research, for instance in demonstrating how readers translate scientific news to their own worlds and world views. This enables an analysis of how publics are constructed through (news) blogs and websites. Simultaneously, qualitative researchers also play a role in constructing the public, for instance in the position they adopt in ethical dilemmas in relation to online research, and in this article I will reflect on some of these dilemmas.