So, after a day nothing but "this is the way it is" comments I gotta say: this is not acceptable.
I've been pondering this issue for over a decade. I think the general attitude is partially right: we can't do anything about troll postings. But we can create incentives for troll (meaning nonconstructive) comments in online discussions to funnel together while non-troll conversations seeking literally any goal have incentive to maintain their conversations through something similar to the "like" mechanism.
The basic idea is rather than a single comment and reply widget for online articles and posts, the "comment reply" widget has an "attitude indicator" that declares "this post is in this attitude". Others give the post a +/- rating for how well it fits the attitude.
It is a simple mechanism that alters how online discussions are handled. It has to be simple, or it will not be adopted. The change could be significant, enabling a diversity of on-topic conversations. Just pick your attitude, your sub-culture and talk with birds of a feather. Whereas no serious conversations can take place online today without random trolls stomping on everyone's china - all because we have a single reply widget funneling all voices together into a troll happy mess.
I've been pondering this issue for over a decade. I think the general attitude is partially right: we can't do anything about troll postings. But we can create incentives for troll (meaning nonconstructive) comments in online discussions to funnel together while non-troll conversations seeking literally any goal have incentive to maintain their conversations through something similar to the "like" mechanism.
The basic idea is rather than a single comment and reply widget for online articles and posts, the "comment reply" widget has an "attitude indicator" that declares "this post is in this attitude". Others give the post a +/- rating for how well it fits the attitude.
It is a simple mechanism that alters how online discussions are handled. It has to be simple, or it will not be adopted. The change could be significant, enabling a diversity of on-topic conversations. Just pick your attitude, your sub-culture and talk with birds of a feather. Whereas no serious conversations can take place online today without random trolls stomping on everyone's china - all because we have a single reply widget funneling all voices together into a troll happy mess.
Anyone else thinking of possible solutions?