|
As Blue Hampshire was originally concieved it had a simple, binary even, rating system for user comments. A "4" meant"Thumbs Up! I enjoyed and/or agree with the sentiment" of your comment. Whereas a "0" meant"This comment is trollish and should be hidden!".
The "0" rating is a way for the BH community to manage itself and protect it from truly trollish* or spammy behavior. If enough "0s" pile up, the comment is hidden from the general public and the admins can ban/delete the comments/user later.
The challenge in this approach comes from our own "Getting Started Guide"
You have the ability to rate the comments of others. If you read something particularly useful or insightful, you may give the author a 4 or Excellent rating. On the other hand, if you feel that a comment was written whose sole purpose is to degrade the conversation or be intentionally abusive, you may choose to give it a 0 or Troll rating, a substantial number of which will cause the comment to be hidden. A significant number of troll ratings may also result in the account being banned. Note: Troll rating a comment simply because you disagree with it is considered ratings abuse and is grounds for banning the user.
Despite pleas to the contrary, folks often use the "0" to mean "I disagree" or "I find your comment to be rude or unbecoming." Other than writing it out as a reply to the offending comment which, while it has merits often only goes to further hijack the thread, We have no way of saying" Mike we know you are not a troll but I think your comment was out of line"
The "1" rating could open up a whole new can of worms, hurt feelings, etc. This is what the site founders were afraid of when choosing the current approach to comment rating. But introducing the "1" might also be a way for the community to define the acceptable tenor and style of the comments on the site, or, at minimum, publicly distance themselves from a comment, without having to use the "Troll Rating"
What do you think? Should we introduce a "1" to our comment rating system? We will take all comments in consideration as we mull over the pros and cons. Regardless of the decision I think discussion on the topic will be helpful for the community.
*Neat! Wikipedia Definition of Troll references "IndyNH" vis-a-vis BH as an example of concern troll
An example of this occurred in 2006 when Tad Furtado, a top staffer for then-Congressman Charles Bass (R-NH), was caught posing as a "concerned" supporter of Bass's opponent, Democrat Paul Hodes, on several liberal New Hampshire blogs, using the pseudonyms "IndieNH" or "IndyNH". "IndyNH" expressed concern that Democrats might just be wasting their time or money on Hodes, because Bass was unbeatable.[17][18]
|
