From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Mar 02 1999 - 21:45:13 MST
Perhaps our mistake has been in assuming we require some type of
forceful deletion of "bad" posts, or even some automated
though-not-global filtering method. It may be that simple audience
feedback would suffice to show which topics and posts are being
well-received; I think everyone here is benevolent enough to voluntarily
respond to that. In fact, I would love any kind of audience feedback on
general principles; right now I have no real idea whether, say, the
initial-vs.-Interim was perceived as a cosmically important issue or a
huge waste of time, whether it had avid readers or was being trashed by
virtually everybody.
Design requirements: (1a indicates non-priority requirement)
1. Provide a means for any person to register a rating on any message,
including those persons not having HTML email readers. Do NOT rate authors.
1a. Prevent multiple ratings. Honor system may work okay.
2. The ratings should be complex enough to express at least the
following messages: "Great post", "worth reading", "waste of time".
2a. Desirable additional ratings: "Not worth reading", "changed my
mind". Optional one-line comments.
3. Distinguish between anonymous, attributed (visible to poster only),
and public (visible to everyone) ratings.
3a. Make public ratings visible on the CritMail archive.
3b. Use a password system to access detailed attributed worthit on CritMail.
4. Communicate the {sum of anonymous}, {sum of worthit} and the {list
of attributed and public cheers and boos} in a digest mailed to each
poster each day.
Design:
1. Non-HTML clients: If you reply to a message and the message body
begins with '$', the message is interpreted as a one-line rating
command, and the rest of the message is discarded. Samples:
$public cheer // Everyone can find out I think this is great.
$attrib worthit // Increments worthit; poster can find it's from me
$anon waste =Who cares? // Sends an anonymous boo and comment
$get // returns public ratings on the message; if your
return address equals the poster's, you get a detailed breakdown of
attributed "worthits".
1a. Read this even if the responder sends HTML.
2. HTML clients: Attach a FORM containing an input line for a comment
and radio buttons set by default to 'attrib' and 'worthit'.
2a. Do this only for list members that register as having an HTML client.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
http://pobox.com/~sentience/sing_analysis.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.
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