Please Read The Comments

[codinghorror]

@gnoupi

Because if a newcomer gets the door slammed on his face the first time he shows up, he probably won’t bother coming back. (Well, except scientists)

Well, that’s funny, because I always explain Stack Exchange as a system of science, data and facts:

@codinghorror

Not all communities can work in a fact and science based Q&A format, but that’s what the SE engine is by far best at.

So you want to turn away people from SE who aren’t willing to do science in the small.

See more in my talk, Learning vs. Discussion:
https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/43/100507

@BatmanAoD

implies that the biggest problem with poorly moderated or unmoderated online communities is the signal-to-noise ratio. I don’t think you actually believe this

That is good! Because I do not!

I would rank the biggest problems in online communities as:

1. hate (and its close cousin, persistent negativity)
2. trolls
3. spam

In that order. Discourse aims to provide communities with a) a default “bill of rights” that says this kind of stuff isn’t tolerated and b) tools that let the community participate in pushing out hate, trolls, and spam. Even if the moderators go on permanent vacation! Or never show up in the first place. Make sense?

@BatmanAoD

I hope Discourse and similar efforts do ultimately help such communities

Me too, that is absolutely the goal!

However, you will note that this works both ways: I got (correctly) criticized in the comments of this blog post for using stormfront as a partial example. Racism is dumb and offensive, but it is not illegal. And as it turns out, even dumb, offensive racists have standards of conduct and civility among themselves… that is their “safe space”.