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What we need instead of hidable comments
15 years ago
...is, first of all, a mod staff big enough and committed enough to support my idea. Right now people are expected to deal problem users themselves because the staff doesn't have the resources to take care of it. So there needs to be a push to get to a point where they can be more hands-on.
But anyway, this is how I think it should go: First off, every comment has a little Report button on it that any registered user can click to report an abusive, spammy, or layout-breaking comment to a mod. But the second tier of this is that reporting a comment on your own submission or journal instantly hides it from view, replaced with a "This comment is hidden pending moderator action" message. The mod, then, can decide to either remove it (and possibly penalize the person who posted it) or unhide it and mark it as having been dealt with. Users attempting to remove the same comment more than once will themselves be penalized.
I am not criticizing the new feature we have now, mind you. What I'm suggesting is something the site's current codebase almost certainly does not support. Heck, the fact that we still don't have a plain-Jane Report button suggests it doesn't support that either. This is for integrating into any overhaul the site may get in the future.
But anyway, this is how I think it should go: First off, every comment has a little Report button on it that any registered user can click to report an abusive, spammy, or layout-breaking comment to a mod. But the second tier of this is that reporting a comment on your own submission or journal instantly hides it from view, replaced with a "This comment is hidden pending moderator action" message. The mod, then, can decide to either remove it (and possibly penalize the person who posted it) or unhide it and mark it as having been dealt with. Users attempting to remove the same comment more than once will themselves be penalized.
I am not criticizing the new feature we have now, mind you. What I'm suggesting is something the site's current codebase almost certainly does not support. Heck, the fact that we still don't have a plain-Jane Report button suggests it doesn't support that either. This is for integrating into any overhaul the site may get in the future.
Stopped reading there.
YOU GUYS! ONLY MY IDEA IS THE ONE THAT WILL SAVE THIS WEBSITE! YOU HAVE TO LISTEN AND DO EVERYTHING I SAY! THIS IS SUPER SEROUS GUYS!
It's easy to fix this kind of stuff, it was broken for years, and the link to the commissions page was still showing on every front page the whole time it was down. The least they could've done was disable the link.
The hard part for moderators would be those borderline cases. The ones where there's a reasonable case for and against hiding a comment (e.g. someone is being caustic and maybe a little antagonizing, but not necessarily abusive), and the discussion between the people involved sucks away all their time and enthusiasm.
Well, that, and they'd need a new codebase for it. :p
The better /proven/ idea would be "kill files"/"score files" that the individual has to manage themselves (and ideally processed client-side as well), the basic functionality is already available as "blocking" here. Adding 'score down threads with this subject/keyword/submitter in it' would be needed. The 4Chan scene has Greasemonkey automatic thread-hiding scripts that somewhat implement the idea.