On 09/25/2013 09:58 PM, Steven Walling wrote:
Yeah how does all this compare to your experience with
comments on
StackOverflow Matt?
(For those who don't know Matt is a big time StackOverflow contributor.)
Stack Overflow is pretty good about this. I don't see a lot of
blatantly bad posts (ad hominem, etc.). I think this is partly because
of who ends up on the site to start with, partly because of the
structure the technology imposes, and partly because of good moderation):
StackOverflow is *very* structured (I think enforcement has also gotten
stricter over time) in terms of what you can post.
* If you post a question that is off-topic (you'll be sent to the
appropriate other Stack Exchange site, if any), a duplicate (you'll be
linked to what it's a duplicate of) or just unreadable/spammy/very bad,
it will be closed. Questions can also be -1'ed.
* If you post a bad answer, it will be -1'ed. If it's very bad/spammy,
it can be deleted, though this is not as common for just badly informed
posts. An interesting case is that "Thank you!" answers are also
deleted, because they're not, well, answers.
* Comments should be used when you're actually commenting on someone's
question or answer. "Thank you!" comments can also be deleted.
There is a review tool (
http://stackoverflow.com/review) specifically to
ensure adequate moderation. Since it's StackOverflow, you can get
badges for reviewing (
http://stackoverflow.com/help/badges)
The review tool currently has (parentheticals are my own explanation):
* Close Votes (closing questions requires a quorum, so this lets you
support a close, if appropriate)
* Suggested Edits (Stack Overflow is a wiki, but if you have < 2000
reputation your edits have to be approved Flagged Revisions style).
* First Posts (pretty self-explanatory; first posts are more likely to
need moderation)
* Late Answers (these can also require moderation; "Thank you!" posts
are common here)
* Low Quality Posts (moderate posts the Stack Exchange software flagged
as potentially problematic)
* Reopen Votes (similar to Close Votes, but voting to reopen).
Some moderation can be done simply by higher-repped users
(
http://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges), but there are also diamond
moderators with extra powers
(
http://stackoverflow.com/help/site-moderators). These are elected,
except for new sites that don't have an electorate yet.
Matt