This dataset comprises four files of IDs of either strongly or weakly engaging online news comments (please see the paper for details): "Top comments" are 1) the top 10% comments in the politics section of The Guardian with the largest relative number of replies received (3111 samples) and 2) the top 10% comments in the politics section with the largest relative number of upvotes received (11081 samples)

"Flop comments" are 1) the flop 10% comments in the politics section of The Guardian with the smallest relative number of replies received (3111 samples) and 2) the flop 10% comments in the politics section with the smallest relative number of upvotes received (11081 samples)