Here at OSNews, we use a moderation system where your peers rate your comments, and where the OSNews staff rarely intervene. This system was put in place after realising that the editorial moderation was failing miserably; it had become too much work. Sifting through ten reported comments a day is one thing, sifting through 100 of them each day is another. The result was that editorial moderation had become willy-nilly, which led to understandable user frustration, and pointless email rants back and forth between users and staff members (mea culpa). The answer to this problem turned out to be a two-step process: banning anonymous commenting, and our peer moderation system. While the moderation system has its flaws, it has exceeded all of our expectations in making sure that our comments' sections are free of spam, and relatively fun to read. Still, we realise problems exist, but we also see a lot of misinformation floating around. The treat we have in store for you today will help in fixing some of that.
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Member since:2006-01-27
and then moderate all those who agree/disagree with you.
Is that a real concern? Each person can still only vote once per comment, and each member has a limited number of votes allowed.
Personally, I'd be more likely to vote Up someone who took the time to reply to my comment, even if they were disagreeing.
Member since:2005-04-01
Member since:2005-08-18
What is preventing a person from getting more than one osnews login and use one to start flames and the other to fuel them? What's preventing people from teaming up to do this?
I disagree, it serves no practical purpose. You're just making things more frustrating for serious users while the bad apples can get around the restriction easily.
Member since:2005-12-02
"You're just making things more frustrating for serious users while the bad apples can get around the restriction easily."
You mean like laws and every day life? Kind of like the gun laws..you know..the ones that outlaw having automatic weapons so only military and outlaws have them? Same thing my friend, whether on-line or off. The bad apples get around all restrictions, while the law abiding citizens get screwed. Is the way of life sadly.
Member since:
2005-06-29
It's not pointless, as it serves a to prevent a previously very common form of abuse: post a comment in a thread, possibly inflammatory, and then moderate all those who agree/disagree with you. This abuse is now over.
Of course you can possibly still do it the other way 'round, but the point here is that trolls generally post first, and most often an opinion that hasn't been posted before in the thread (else it wouldn't be trolling).
This "feature", while understandably annoying, serves a very good purpose.