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About comments
Everyone is invited to comment on our software industry news posts. Informative or insightful comments are preferred over unsubstantiated opinions, and will receive a higher rating (read more below). Take your time to write meaningful things without spelling errors: good contributions will be rewarded with higher scores. Thank you for your contribution!
About moderation
Moderation of comments to articles is user-driven on this website. Logged-in users can participate in the moderation of comments of others: to obtain moderation rights, a user must have gathered at least 20 Energy points.
Moderation goals
1. Rate comments according to quality so other readers can sort or filter comments according to quality.
2. To reward users that post high quality comments, and to discourage users that post undesired messages.
Moderation workings
The ultimate score of a comment is the mean of all its ratings. Every comment starts with a positive score of +1 (on-topic). Thus users are stimulated to post a comment, and every comment is given the benefit of the doubt.
The current average score of a comment is visible in the score indicator, which is shown on the right side of the header of a comment. The score indicator goes from -1 to +3. A comment can be rated by clicking on the score indicator. After you have rated the comment, the score-indicator is updated to reflect the new average. You can tell which comments you have rated from an R-icon shown next to the score indicator.
Comments can be moderated until 10 days after the post. It is not possible to rate your own comments.
High quality comments are:
- insightful
- informative
- well substantiated
Low quality comments are:
- unsubstantiated opinions
- non-informative or irrelevant
- non-insightful
- abusive
Spelling errors should be mentioned to the editor (
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
); they should not be posted in article threads: 0 score. Complaints about articles or moderations can be posted in the editor forum, not in the article threads (-1 score).
Score levels are:
- +3: Must-read (contains expert-level insight and/or very useful additional information)
- +2: Informative (contains useful information or insight)
- +1: On-topic (general additional info, good jokes, reasoned opinion)
- 0: Useless (no info, no insight, no contribution to the thread, mistakes, also for failed jokes)
- -1: Undesired (abusive language, unsubstantiated opinions)
The righteous use of power
A moderator’s ability is a powerful one: by his ratings, he determines which ratings other users will probably read, and which they will probably not read. “With great power comes great responsibility,” someone once said. High ratings must not be given out of friendship or because a comment reflects your own opinion. And the other way around: opinions that are not your own should not be moderated in a negative way, but should be reacted upon in the thread.
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