Heavily trafficked blog launches bold new “tiered” commenting system
posted at 9:30 pm on July 15, 2009 by Allahpundit
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No, not us. Not yet. But I’m not going to lie: I dig it.
Jezebel’s editor last week announced the site was designating a “Tier 1″ level of privileged contributors whose comments are “funniest, thoughtful, intelligent, well-argued” and who have proven themselves “engaged, intelligent, humorous, fair-minded, thoughtful, rational, etc.”
Their comments will be shown below each blog post. All others, in Tier 2, will be available only if a user clicks to see them. Tier 1 commenters, in addition, will have the right to bump comments from others up or down. Editors, ultimately, will have the final say.
Atheist commenters: Automatic Tier 1. No, seriously, what do people think of this? When I mentioned it to the boss, she worried that a tiered system would destroy the chat room feel that a lot of threads have (especially longer ones), but that could be fixed by giving each user the option of viewing tiered or untiered. The default would be tiered, letting casual/non-commenting readers see the best of the best when they read a post; regulars could turn the default off and go back to chat room mode. A tiered system would also give us an option short of banning people for bad behavior. My main concern is that feelings will inevitably be hurt when some people end up in Tier 2, but the consolation there, I guess, is that then they can berate me for being an elitist RINO poseur. Even more than usual, I mean.
I think we need to poll it.
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Not quite a win.
austinnelly on May 29, 2006 at 2:22 PM
I think this whole tier things sounds stale and corporate. I think it should be organized more as teams; you could have the David Frum Repubics and then you could have the old school conservatives that actually want a chance to win an election in the next 20 years. Trolls could have their own team. Give each team a spokesperson and all the teams to vote people off..it would be just like survivor. How awesome would that be? Pfft. Leave it like it is.
austinnelly on July 16, 2009 at 11:31 AM
Oh yeah, right, sure, go ahead — CRUSH the last bastion of democracy. Why stop there? Why not just institute a qualifying exam, or better yet, use the good-old-boy network to decide who gets access to the internet AT ALL. What are you going to do next? Ban collies from commenting?
/sarcasm off
My collie says:
CyberCipher on July 16, 2009 at 11:39 AM
No need to re-invent the wheel. Stick with the classics: Failure to pay taxes.
Tom_OC on July 16, 2009 at 11:43 AM
….Although anything within the popular ‘Chicago-Thug Chic series’ will also get you ahead in this admin.
Tom_OC on July 16, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Tier one, no less.
OldEnglish on July 16, 2009 at 11:53 AM
No finer praise could I ever ask for. But alas, I’m afraid I’ll always be just a Page 7 commenter on The Day After. Such are the consequences of having a job and raising a family. Unless HA goes with the aforementioned tier system which would forever relegate me to the unread junior varsity.
No tiers. Keep my unfounded dreams of relevance alive!
Tom_OC on July 16, 2009 at 12:05 PM
You East Coast snobs never cease to amaze me.
Why not just dump/ban commenters you don’t “like”?
Or better yet, total dictatorship, no comments at all.
Make ‘em start their own sites.
(Yeah, that’ll drive about as much traffic as a post on 1960’s era mailboxes).
omnipotent on July 16, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Really, the only thing I want is to 1) stop letting more idiots in and 2)maybe have a thumbs up/thumbs down thing, like youtube. If something is really, really offensive, then it gets reported in a neat way.
Otherwise, I do like the regular system…it does make it more likely we will continue posting because we can all participate.
Mommypundit on July 16, 2009 at 12:23 PM
I vote for a “Troll Torment System” that tracks offending IPs and pops up copies of the Declaration of Independence and pics of Sarah Palin in heels on their computers.
infidel4life on July 16, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Some of the most clever remarks, have also come from the most foolish posters.
Even a blind squirrel can find an acorn once in awhile…and we have our share of blind squirrels.
Take Rywall…please.
He has some of the most stupid and foolish posts, I would want him on tier 1 because he is a liberal, yet his posts would be tier 3 or 4 at best…but important to show how weak the lefts arguments are.
right2bright on July 16, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Each of us can decide whether we are tier 1 or tier 2…of course everyone would be tier 1.
right2bright on July 16, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Allah Akbar!
Allah is starting to live up to his name.
RobCon on July 16, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Just some ideas…
1) Go to a tree-type layout so that threads can be easily read or ignored at the will of the reader.
2) Allow users to rate up posts.
3) Highlight posts that rate above a certain level.
4) Allow users to “follow” preferred posters (which might also elevate their default post rated level).
5) Maybe allow rating “tweaks” (built into the site or as a preference for the reader). For example, one sentence comments are usually snarky, useless noise. Comments that are several paragraphs tend to be more thoughtful.
dominigan on July 16, 2009 at 12:53 PM
6) Allow reader to create black-lists of posters (*cough* Dave Rywall *cough*) to ignore, or white-lists of posters to always see comments from.
7) Instead of hiding low-rated comments, maybe just gray out the text so that the higher-rated ones stand out.
dominigan on July 16, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Using words like “dictatorship” to describe the tiered system only argues for the tiered system. Hot Air is a small private business. They can do whatever the heck they want.
As a card-carrying conservative, I deeply despise snobby liberal “intellectual elites” as much as the next guy. That doesn’t mean we should just dismiss the entire idea of being well-read and scholarly, an idea that has been largely corrupted by fake liberal “intellectuals”. The solution to extremism is not extremism in the opposite direction, but moderation. There’s no need to throw the baby out with the bath water here. Intelligent and original conservative comments can only help the conservative cause, and ultimately, give us a more powerful voice in the national dialog.
I dream of a world where not a single conservative ever uses the word “asshat” (what the heck is an “asshat” anyway?) to describe someone with whom they disagree, but rather, clearly and wittily articulates their disagreement. On that day, great conservative ideas will gain the dominance of national discourse they’ve always deserved. A tiered system helps get us there.
dave_lantos on July 16, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Bwaaahaaaahaaaahaaa.
peski on July 16, 2009 at 1:08 PM
My Tier 1 Seat is up for grabs through pay-to-play. Please see Rham, Blago, Vallerie Jarret, and Jesse Jackson, JR for a diagram of how negotiations will go…I need lots and lots of money!
NO PHONE CALLS!
(seriously, I am up for anything that will help/support Hot Air. Y’all are the best :)
TN Mom on July 16, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Don’t they already have that at Free Republic?
I wouldn’t mind the ability to choose to avoid a thread hog or to follow a set of posters, but often I see great comments from the least likely
Otherwise it becomes a group essay, like WSJ editorials
I need to hear from the so called losers because the so called winners become inbred. Consider the MSM, which is selected, not open, and dumb as bricks
entagor on July 16, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Floating Rock,
I’m late getting back to this thread. Thank you for looking that up for me. They didn’t have us go through registration the normal way. We just requested it and they sent affirmation through our E-mail accounts.
Rose on July 16, 2009 at 1:59 PM
I might start both a rating system where people could award “karma points” or something to each comment based on funny/thoughtful/intelligent, etc., and then start to color each commenter’s posts so that people could rapidly skim through the “chat room,” reading the quality ones if they feel like it and dipping into the dregs if that suits them. That would allow people to self-regulate and yet not hide anybody’s opinions.
PersonalLiberty on July 16, 2009 at 2:06 PM
I like it. I see no better way to expose what our blog overlords think is “relevant and well thought out”.
Bwahahahahahahhaaaa
/
csdeven on July 16, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Yeah. This reminds me of the beltway mentality that is always being criticized as elitist vacuousness. I mean really, WHO gets to decide the worthiness of a comment? I guess our overlords will but I suppose a blue ribbon panel of tier one type personalities can decide who gets to join their ranks. Perhaps a little palm greasing could get a person on tier one who would otherwise be on tier 100.
And then what happens? Everyone who is vacuous enough to want to be tier one has to start emulating the overlords so they can get on the tier one list?
Pretty soon, HA will be exactly like congress.
Why? Is there some evil programming built into the system that wont allow you free choice?
csdeven on July 16, 2009 at 2:44 PM
No, sir, I don’t like it.
jaime on July 16, 2009 at 2:52 PM
.
canopfor, Thanks for digging that up. I think this is My FIRST HA POST (In response to something from SouthernGent)
.
NightmareOnKStreet on July 16, 2009 at 3:05 PM
My two cents:
Tiered system: meh.
Ignore button: PLEASE!!!!!
NightmareOnKStreet on July 16, 2009 at 3:11 PM
My ignore button is that I simply don’t read that persons comments.
csdeven on July 16, 2009 at 3:16 PM
Atheists in Tier 1? Surely you jest! Wonder what the “boss” thinks about this!
Before the pearly gates or the bosom of Abraham, atheists might end up in Tier 2.
Steve Z on July 16, 2009 at 3:19 PM
A diaper? Or donkey ears for Democrats?
Should we call opponents nasty names? It probably doesn’t help dialogue much, but how many people know what “socialist” really means? Does anybody remember that the Nazi Pary and the Soviet Union both had “Socialist” in their names?
Steve Z on July 16, 2009 at 3:24 PM
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csdeven, I agree, that works for a few posts but when you get someone like getalife who posts profusely- sorting through pages of troll-sh!t on one or more threads is frustrating to the point of ignoring the entire conversation for time’s sake.
.
IMHO, it’s a moot point here- because there are still too many commenters who insist on “engaging” the trolls, therefore an ignore button would drive the thread counts down- better for serious posters, bad for HA’s numbers.
NightmareOnKStreet on July 16, 2009 at 3:54 PM
That would work, but it would also be confusing when others make comments to the ignored person as we would have to divine who the response was directed to.
But you’re right. I get sooooooooooo sick of the feeding of the trolls and also the sexual innuendo threads that spring up every night. To be able to skip those altogether would be nice.
csdeven on July 16, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Tiered or ranked comment systems destroy blogs.
Becomes a closed feedback loop where popularity and conformity squash thinking and debate.
Partisan on July 16, 2009 at 4:06 PM
As a probable Tier 2 person, I’m speechless…
karl9000 on July 16, 2009 at 4:28 PM
I doubt I’m AloneKudos to Michelle for creating a site and forum that tolerates such competitive quality and total drek and while growing and prospering. I can’t see any good reason why you would change something that clearly has worked well. Change, at what cost? for the sake of?
As a founding member, but often inactive for long periods, I would just stop coming if forced to sit in the back row by some self appointed usher.
Reality Check on July 16, 2009 at 5:43 PM
.
RC, I’m curious about what you mean by “founding member”. Did HotAir begin as a group effort? I always thought it was solely Michelle Malkin’s creation. I admit to ignorance though. Perhaps it was her own site and this was a collaborative effort?
.
I should go back and read the “About” pages of both sites, but I have 2 dogs weighing 340 lbs waiting for dinner.
NightmareOnKStreet on July 16, 2009 at 6:03 PM
By the time I arrive on Hot Air threads, I am usually speaking to an empty room already. I’m already second tier, feeble and/or harebrained comments notwithstanding.
CO2 Producer on July 16, 2009 at 6:09 PM
.
Not completely empty room… yet. Just fed the dogs/horses (Mastiffs) and returned. But now it may be the time for humans to “consume mass quanitities” as they used to say in the SNL skit “The Coneheads”
NightmareOnKStreet on July 16, 2009 at 6:23 PM
NightmareOnKStreet—promotion to first tier for responding to my comment.
Gotta desert the room now myself to interact with my fellow humans face-to-face. See ya.
CO2 Producer on July 16, 2009 at 7:33 PM
So…tiered comments? “Ding” bats? Shamuta?
Will you also start posting well-polished bicycle photos?
Serr8d on July 16, 2009 at 8:12 PM
Serr8d on July 16, 2009 at 8:12 PM
I gave you a virtual ‘upding’ for that post. teehee
whatever HotAir does, please, please don’t go to an indented “reply” type format. keep it linear as it is now. maybe a collapse button or whatever so that you can quickly jump past a comment to the next one. a reply button that copies the url and nic of the comment one is replying to into the comment one is making would be nice.
NO UP/DOWN DINGS! NO KARMA!
Either you wish to hear all comers equally or this becomes an echo chamber.
jcw46 on July 16, 2009 at 9:10 PM
numbered comments might be nice. helps to keep track.
jcw46 on July 16, 2009 at 9:12 PM
some of the snobbish jackassery I have come to know and expect from AP.
OrdinaryColoradan on July 16, 2009 at 9:33 PM
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