Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
Feature ideas to help bloggers
Published on February 10, 2004 By Draginol In Blogging

Anyone who's written enough on-line over a long enough period of time knows that there are a lot of people out there who write before they think.

This is particularly true on Blog Sites.  My favorite blog, USS Clueless, doesn't allow any comments on his articles. He used to have a message board but eventually he grew weary of the idiocy there and disbanded that too. We have some advantages in that our IT staff can put together some interesting options for bloggers.

Ultimately, JoeUser is a blog site, not a discussion site. How much discussion occurs on blogs will be up to the author of a given article on their blog. If a blogger doesn't want "l33tdue89" to respond on his or her blog, then he shouldn't be allowed to respond. Period.

But why stop there? What I am interested in setting up is a system in which bloggers can have control over not just who can respond on their blogs but what kinds of users can respond on their blog.  Here are some ideas that we have.

Basic Filtering

When you write an article not only can you control the audience of who can read it at all (that's already in) but you can control who can comment it. Your options will be:

Who can comment on your article?

( ) Everyone (default)
( ) Registered Users Only
( ) No one
( ) Custom

If you select Custom things get even more interesting.  You could then filter out people based on anything you want. Let me be up front: Bloggers would have the right to discriminate who gets to comment on their blog.  I personally would probably not use these features but that freedom should be provided to the bloggers themselves to decide.

For instance:

No one over age X can comment on my blog

No one under age Y can comment on my blog

No one with access less than Z can comment on my blog (in the next few weeks we'll be adding new access groups where trusted regulars will slowly move up in access).

We could even have a generic JoeUser knowledge test where users would take a test on knowledge on various issues. Bloggers could have a score threshold needed to comment on their blog.  Most people wouldn't take the test but that would be fine with bloggers who used this option since they would be ones looking for only those who are interested in serious, intelligent, discussion.

Some people would likely be up in arms about these kinds of options. But the fact is, this site exists for people to be able to write blogs. It's a blog site. The features are aimed at encouraging people to write. To be comfortable writing about what they want. And to that end we want to provide them with features necessary to have some control over who comments on their blog.

 


Comments
on Feb 10, 2004
I'm curious about general knowledge test. It could be funny but would you choose the question, regarding which culture
on Feb 10, 2004
Sorry, I type too quickly,
I was meaning, who would choose the questions? and regarding which criterias ?

on Feb 10, 2004
I like the options available for joeuser bloggers. I think that I'd be more apt to want to let only registered users read my stuff because I hate having just any jerk make annoying comments. On the other hand, before I actually registered for joeuser, I think I looked at a few to make sure the site was to my liking. And it is.
Thanks so much!
on Feb 10, 2004
Power to ya. Bloggers will form two sects and this is interesting to me. I realize we are defining what blogging is - here and now - and so such things must be tried to see what it will evolve into. Personally, I think censorship is for weak constitutions and won't have it on my site. I also am not really interested in those who wish to put forth opinion and not allow input. It denies them new knowledge and also suppresses freedom of thought. For me, such an attitude is fundamentally flawed. BUT, I am interested in how it will turn out, so let's do it.
on Feb 10, 2004
Jepel - no idea, right now it's just an item from a brain storming session.

Wahk - indeed, I would agree with your reasoning in general - blogs that allow unlimited feedback would likely have a competitive advantage. Though on the other hand, some people may want to read blogs where the comments are of higher quality.
on Feb 10, 2004
Brad - define Quality
on Feb 10, 2004
i probably won't use it, but the test option sounds hilarious. can you include a stat to see how many failed?

what was the color of george washington's white horse?

who fired first at pearl harbor on dec 7, 1941?

who is the star of "garfield and friends"?

name the b-29 that dropped the second atomic bomb...
on Feb 10, 2004
I presume white.
We did, but with provocation.
Odie !!!!!!
Bockscar dropped "Fat Man". "Let's drop the big one and see what happens."

Jalbert
on Feb 10, 2004
Personally I'd like to set my own criteria. One thing I'd like to see in a premium JoeUser site is the ability to put a poll in a blog post.....

take that a little bit further and I could have a small 5-10 question survey of a user before they're allowed to post. Only if they score above X could they post. However I wouldnt really want that criteria for EVERY post i mean....so perhaps a custom audience would be defined.

What i mean is if i write something political I only want someone knowledgeable to reply....but if I post poetry I would want anyone to reply.
on Feb 10, 2004
This would all be on a per post basis. Not globally.
on Feb 10, 2004
Yes... I will be the benevolant dictator of my own Blog.

nice.
on Feb 10, 2004
age has nothing to do with intelligence. Look at Dan. Hmm, that's jewish...heheh.
on Feb 10, 2004
Age has nothing to do with intelligence but it does affect knowledge and wisdom.
on Feb 12, 2004
I think it would be an AWESOME idea if we could choose who can read each individual blog... it would save me a hell of a lot of trouble (excuse the language). Really, that would be a wonderful thing to add. If it were added, I would definitely use it. And I would equally like it if blogs were available to only registered users. Wonderful idea.
on Feb 12, 2004
I am totally new to this, i liked being able to post my comment in the forums before I had my own account, although I am now in a little tit for tat with another blogger, a registered user i suppose.. but as for the idea to filter out any unwanted responses, i agree.. there is no reason to write something from the heart and have someone tear it to shreds because they have a wild hair up their a__.. so I agree, even if it means that I maybe won't be allowed to comment on something if someone does not want me commenting on their work..