Alternative proposal for how the comment quality threshold could work

This is mainly directed at people who read and write image comments.

There has been some complaining about how the image comment quality filter works. The main purpose of the filter has been to reduce low effort / spammy comments that are the equivalent of pressing "+1" on the image with a secondary goal of reducing lewd comments, and I think it has been successful at both of these things, so I am not considering removing it.

However, here is an alternative way it could work which is arguably more user friendly:

• The algorithm for determining if a comment falls below the quality threshold remains mostly unchanged.
• All comments are accepted by the site, including ones that fall below the threshold. (No more "Your comment is below the threshold" error messages.)
• If a comment is below the threshold:
  • It does not send notifications to people subscribed to the image.
  • It does not cause the image to be bumped to the front page under "recently commented".
  • When reading the comments, it is hidden by default with an option to expand it. (To reduce spamminess/clicking, all the below-threshold comments for a particular image may be grouped together at the bottom, with a button to expand all of them at once; unsure about this.)

So... better or worse than the current implementation?

Sounds much better to me i make less comments now because they May get deleted. but with a system like that. you can hide some of the stupid stuff but still let people say what they want. Without having to worry about the wording.

Sounds like it could work.

For item 3 of item 3, it maybe worth keeping them in the chronological sequence, to provide context, if they are indeed context worthy. Having a button to toggle their visibility as a whole would be good.

One site I visit sometimes, called Slashdot, has an option where you can toggle the threshold of the messages you see, based on their rating. If I remember it goes from -1 to +5. You even get a karma rating if your messages are generally well rated.

I should note, if you think this would actually be an improvement and haven't commented yet, please do so to let me know. I am more likely to actually do this if I hear from more people.

Better. Still sub-optimal in my opinion because there should be no filters.

Pertaining to the goal of reducing lewd comments, I believe a short message in the comment area saying something like "be respectful" or "don't be rude" would actually go a long way. Maybe like one of those grayed out things in the comment box that goes away when you click to type in it or something, but I dont' know how to make those.

Personally, i'd make it populate a random message from of a small list so people who comment frequently get different ideas of the kinds of things that aren't cool to say. I'd probably take this idea too far and try to make them silly or interesting to grab attention, like "don't be lewd, it's not shrewd", or "be nice, people are people too", but that's probably not the vibe you're going for, lol.

If you make a comment that is below the threshold, doesn't notify others that a comment has been made, and doesn't bump it to the front page, but is grouped with other below threshold comments that only can be seen if you want, how will anyone know a comment has been made. Yes, I want to see comments made on images I have commented on, even if they don't agree with what I think, I can just ignore them. Can't we just report comments that we deem abusive and derogatory so that they can be deleted?

Can't we just report comments that we deem abusive and derogatory so that they can be deleted?

The problem is that relying entirely on users to report these comments is that maybe 10% or less of these comments actually get reported.

Damn, I got this warning and came to the forums.

Some people take comments far too seriously, this website is becoming less fun to visit with every change it seems recently.

My last comment on a image was fairly long and encouraged conversation, now I'm rejected from commenting for whatever reason. Tried complementing the model and nope...

Damn, I got this warning and came to the forums.

Some people take comments far too seriously, this website is becoming less fun to visit with every change it seems recently.

My last comment on a image was fairly long and encouraged conversation, now I'm rejected from commenting for whatever reason. Tried complementing the model and nope...

One of the things that Chainer has demonstrated is that he is flexible and willing to listen to and consider feedback. The problem is that when the feedback is "I don't like the filter" or "I can't comment now," that's not very constructive and he can't do anything with that.

If you were to perhaps paste your comment here then it could be looked at and considered.

Can't we just report comments that we deem abusive and derogatory so that they can be deleted?

This doesn't address the bigger problem, which is the spamminess of low effort comments ("wow", etc.), of which there are hundreds per day, especially without the filter. These aren't going to get reported (they weren't getting reported before the filter, so there is no reason to think they would be now); by the time they got reported it's too late since they already spammed the images to the front page; and this would cause a ton of manual toil in reporting/deleting comments.

Yes, good idea -- I definitely think this proposed implementation will be better than the current one.

With this version, I think it would be wise to keep the below-threshold comments in the timeline rather than pulling them out to the bottom -- the continuity may help people understand the other comments. Also I suggest having a button to expand all below-threshold comments for that image in one click.

As long as "recently commented" is on the front page, there is an incentive for the lowest quality comments that meet whatever threshold you set, but I'm not sure how many people are doing that purposefully to game the front page. If it's significant, then yes, i think those ideas in your opening post are all good and worth trying.

However, 95% of comments on the entire internet are inane or not worth reading, but i don't think auto-hiding "WOW" is necessarily the right approach. I DO think it's worth not counting in those other metrics like notifications and front page. If anything, i think instead you should make these comments shadowflagged so people can still post them, but they won't have any weight at all to them.

EDIT: also, it shouldn't be easy to determine if your comment is autoflagged for low quality, people shouldn't see their own comment create a notification, and maybe add a 10 minute timer or something before anything counts for "recently commented", or maybe change the algorithm or ordering of that section on the front page to most commented today or something.

I like this alternative much better. Instagram has a similar feature where they’ll hide spammy/offensive comments, but you can choose to reveal them

A cesspit of worthless comments, potentially for every picture. I wonder if I'd want to hide the subpar comments altogether. That is, to flick a switch and not even be aware of their existence at all.

But then some borderline useful or interesting things would end up among the wows and boings.

People insist on being allowed to do something that is by definition fruitless and meaningless. As if the site had a section for the burps and farts of its users too. "I farted." "Yeah, me too." "Mine sounded like an accelerating speedbike." "Yeah, mine was deep, like a Lovecraftian monster coming out of hibernation."

The wows and boings are not actually a display of appreciation for the women but an expression of appreciation people have for their own reactions. Just like someone would have appreciation for his ability to make interesting sounds when passing gas.

EDIT: also, it shouldn't be easy to determine if your comment is autoflagged for low quality, people shouldn't see their own comment create a notification, and maybe add a 10 minute timer or something before anything counts for "recently commented", or maybe change the algorithm or ordering of that section on the front page to most commented today or something.

I like this delay idea, I'll probably incorporate it into what I end up doing.

Chainer...I have to admit you are one fair and compromising person...all with the intent of site improvement and enjoyment for the members. I've struggled with the filter but learned how to navigate it as best I could. Your new proposal definitely sounds like an improvement. My hats off to you for looking at the issue from all sides. 👍

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