Choosing a New Comment Policy | Hacker News Reader

Choosing a New Comment Policy

scottaaronson.blog

22 pointsTomte7 comments

The IP address mentioned in the article is a VPN exit: https://spur.us/context/209.205.206.42

I thought this is about policy on commenting codes.

Maybe he can also get helps from the readers to moderate the comment section by implementing upvote/downvote system like HN, Reddit or Twitter. Or let readers flag troll comments. Enough downvote or flag, comment gets deleted.

Honestly, this reaction demonstrates pretty clearly that he’s not strong enough to deal with any of this, as the by far best way to deal with a troll is to ignore them.

This self indulgent out-loud, “this is why we can’t have nice things” contemplation is just fishing for sympathy, when what he should be getting is direct feedback to either move on or to enact any changes without feeding the troll (i.e. silently).

> reaction demonstrates pretty clearly that he’s not strong enough to deal with any of this

He seems to straight up acknowledge this when he says “the trolls have gotten too good at triggering me.”

> self indulgent out-loud

He cites his “openness and…ethic of responding to all possible arguments against me,” which doesn’t sound overly self indulgent. If he won’t or can’t amend that ethic, then killing commenting seems the way to go.

Trolls are not ignored here on HN. They tend to get told off in replies by a moderator or other person, their comments get flagged, and they may be banned. I think it’s better than just hoping everyone will ignore trolls.

Importantly, it may be fine for you to ignore trolls but not for moderators and Scott is the moderator of his blog’s comments.

It is by far the best option for someone as easily triggered as the author to ignore trolls entirely, as his own article suggests.

The narcissistic tendencies he’s indulged here are toxic as hell, both to him and to whatever community he’s trying to foster in his comments, far more damaging than any troll might be.

Just let it go! This is so damaging to the fabric of your community, you’re literally killing the very thing you want to support by not just letting it go.

Write no more of it, think no more of it, just move on.

If trolls don't get moderated away, then they'll inevitably take over the discussion, while driving away legitimate readers. You can see the result in the comment sections of certain media outlets or social media. Simply ignoring that isn't exactly a sensible option. Especially when they start harassing third parties.

However, publishing IP and ISP data from commenters is also quite questionable. Some jurisdiction don't like that at all.

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