In case you didn't know it, according to
the JoeUser
point system you can lose points when any other registered user
clicks that they think you're being a troll.
Unfortunately, this can have dire
consequences in the hands of malicious users. For instance, Muggaz
recently lost
over 800 (!!!) points in about 3 hours, apparently to a
single malicious user (or malicious user and group of friends) who
actively decided to kick him out of the
top 10. In the comments to Muggaz's blog on the incident
Anthony
R. said a malicious trolling-presser once sent his points to
around -10,000. (Did you catch that? NEGATIVE 10,000.)
This is outrageous. This should not even
be possible. Personally I see no real use for this feature. (Though,
it should be pointed out Muggaz himself feels "It's a good feature to
have, that's for sure.")
"Troll Feature" Against Spirit of Point System?
Why does the point system even exist? In
his article "The
Point System Explained: Measuring Success on JoeUser.com" JoeUser
founder Brad Wardell says:
"I wanted to set up a medium in which people with
opinions could write about what they want and their articles would
be distributed based on merit rather than purely based on having
the favor of some popular blogger. Anyone who reads through the
blogsphere knows exactly what I'm talking about. There are a
handful of blog overlords out there which get the bulk of the
traffic in the blogsphere. These overlords, while generally
benevolent, have vastly disproportionate power over determining
which blogs and which articles will be read by the average blog
reader out there. That struck me as unfair."
This "troll feature" is the antithesis of
that founding vision. By allowing a single user or group of users to
launch an attack like this it,
- Makes a mockery of "distribution by merit." This
activity is not based on merit, in fact the author's and
the work's merit are under direct assault.
- Creates, at least in reverse, the very Overlords JoeUser
sought to dethrone. The "troll feature" allows a single user
or group of users working in concert to affect which users can
become popular with a simple click of "trolling." Don't like that
user? Kill him! Knock him into oblivion! If, as in this case, it
knocks someone out of the top ten, it affects all their articles,
because by no longer showing up in the sidebar of "top users" it
must have some impact on their site being read and hence
negatively impact the scores for their articles.
- Is just plain wrong. No-one should have the power to
hurt someone else just out of jealousy, envy, or spite.
Introducing Fairness to the Troll Feature
Personally I'd like to see the troll
feature removed, but if it must stay let's at least introduce some
fairness and safeguards so these types of abuses can never take
place.
- Your score drops too. According to Brad's article on
the point system, troll-buttoning someone currently costs them 2
points. ("A
regular user can give + or - 2 points.") Accordingly, if you
cost someone points, your score should also decrease. This would
encourage its use only in extreme circumstances and discourage
abuse. I suggest your points should decrease by at least half as
many points as you're costing others. Under the current rules you
cost them two points hence you would lose one point.
- Score limit in order to troll-button. A registered user
should have a minimum score number in order to troll-button
someone. If you don't have at least, say, 100 points,
troll-buttoning would have no effect, just as it currently does
not for unregistered "guest" users. That, combined with the above
suggestion, would create a floor beyond which you could not
troll-button anymore.
- Fewer points deducted. I'm sorry, I think 2 points is
too much of an impact. Lower it to 1 point at most.
- Limit number of troll-buttonings per day and hour. A
user should be limited in the number of troll-buttonings he can
give or receive, per day and per hour. For instance, the most
times someone could accuse anyone (single or multiple users) of
trolling should be once an hour or four times per day. I find it
highly unlikely someone could find that many cases deserving of
being labeled trolling (which, when you think about it, is a harsh
indictment) in a day. Anyone else is probably being a crank and
out to cause harm. Likewise, in order to prevent a single user
from being gang-trolled by a malicious group, there should be
limit on the number of troll accusations a single posting or
individual user can receive at one time, say, at most 10 per
day.
- Retract the points for the posting, but no more. You
get points for posting comments to other users' blog articles.
Theoretically someone could up their score by posting a flood of
low quality comments. If the troll feature is meant to countermand
that, it would be far better to remove the points only for
the comment considered trolling. Establish a "troll threshold."
Then if, say, 10 users consider a comment trolling, the troll
threshold is triggered and the points for that posting are taken
back. This could only happen once, only for the offending comment,
and no other points are affected.
Bye-bye: Time for the Troll Feature to Go
As Muggaz said in his original post,
"Personally, i dont use the trolling feature... i dont like to put
other people down... if they are idiots, they wont get up in the
ranks..." Agreed. Let people rise by exceptional content and the
trollers, flamers, and other lowlifes die where they lay, unable to
rise due to their own foolishness. That should suffice. The troll
feature should die.
Yours,
Gene
Nash