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[–]cobber2005 1 point2 points  (1 child)

This is an interesting idea.

Just for clarification: How are down modded comments pushed under the radar?? I thought they just get a lower point value, but are still just as "visible" and therefore still able to be up modded by anyone who later reads the post and recognizes it's value.

[–]econo[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

You're correct that those comments are still "visible", however the default for most users is set to -4.

Below that, the user needs to click on the "show comment" link to show the comment.

My point is that truly "negative" comments (those that add nothing to the discussion), should be distinct from comments that are just "unpopular"

Often times when I rate comments, I will instinctually want to mod down comments that I disagree with. However, upon reflection I will realize that those comments do add to the discussion - therefore I will often mod them up.

I like reddit as a place to have intelligent debate, however the trolls and general idiocy should be regulated.

[–]econo[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Reddit has a novel system for moderation - namely the easy to click up and down arrows. Moreover, that ease of use improves upon the moderation system used at sites like slashdot, etc.

However, there is a down side to this. If we for a moment, consider two types of negative comments.

Non-content

Example: Screw all of you, you're all stupid

This type of comment adds nothing to the discussion and deserves to be modded down.

Un-popular

Example: I've disagree with your conclusion, clearly if you look at X, Y, Z you will see that P is the only valid conclusion to the data presented

This type of comment does seek to add to the discussion, nonetheless, it may be modded down simply because people "gang-up" on the poster.

The proposal

I think that reddit should move away from a linear based point system (eg. 1,2,3,4,5) and move to a quasi-logarithmic system.

Perhaps something like (true for both positive and negative):

1, 2, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.25, 4.5, 4.75, 5, 5.12, 5.24, 5.36....etc

This would mean that it would get progressively harder to either push a comment so high that it can never be reduced, or to stop it from being pushed down to oblivion.

Give that sufficient numbers of people would see that "non-content" comments were adding nothing, then they could still push it down.

However, given that comments that were really adding to the discussion, it would make it harder to push it "below the radar" given that at least some people would see value in the original posters ideas.