Gentle Moderation

Sat, 14 Jun 2003 08:41:00 -0400
/technology

Proof that there’s plenty of innovation left to come even in areas of the web
that seem mature. Sam Ruby has invented a gentle form of discussion moderation. Any flamebait in his comment section is struck through and linked to a page explaining why.

At the moment, the best solution I have come up with is to mark up the portions I find objectionable with links to this page. No words are added, deleted, or rearranged in the process.

Mark Pilgrim has also adopted the technique and provides a more eloquent description than I can.

I will annotate comments, and portions of comments, that I feel are personal attacks against me or others. Such flames will be marked as deleted and linked to this page.

This is an idea built on the assumptions of hyperlinking and text styling. I’m watching with interest.