I sometimes wonder what would happen if you built a site like HN or reddit where, as a condition of membership, you sometimes are asked to really probe the depths of a comment you make. Why you selected specific words, who you expected to read your comment, how you expected the content and the style to be received, how you felt about its evident reception. Maybe haul other commenters or up/downvoters into the conversation, how the comment influenced their perception of the individuals in the thread, how they would view future comments from these individuals, etc.
I’m guessing there have been studies of a similar nature, but not in a way that’s public or where you may get to know some of the participants before/after these little exposes.
For my part i stopped reading the comment you replied to after the first sentence. People that don’t have enough self control in the instant to moderate their speech to a basic level of civility aren’t likely to follow it with nuanced perspective.
I'd rather have a site that condensed the main points of a comment, merged it with similar sentiments when appropriate, and kept track of the popularity of that viewpoint. It would solve the problem that, what, 70% of the comments on here are just repeating the same ideas. It seems like we're a few years away from it, but I think it is coming.
I’m guessing there have been studies of a similar nature, but not in a way that’s public or where you may get to know some of the participants before/after these little exposes.
For my part i stopped reading the comment you replied to after the first sentence. People that don’t have enough self control in the instant to moderate their speech to a basic level of civility aren’t likely to follow it with nuanced perspective.