Re: [OpenVerse] Voluntary user system.

[Jon Winters <winters@obscurasite.com>]

Cruise wrote:

<snip> 
> And what do you think?

Deep stuff.  I think I like it.  The idea of a 'troll' getting their
points knocked so far into negativity that they ended up in an empty
room appeals to me.  The idea of rewarding those who care about the
community is also a cool thing.  (gift culture?)

If we adopt the "Anonymous Coward" nic for unregistered users we can
join in the fun when CNN, ABC, CBS, and MSNBC quote the often angry
openverse visitor named Anonymous Coward who said Microsoft sux.

I have a few concerns.... Privacy being the biggest.  Might be a good
idea early on to set forth a privacy statement and stick with it. 
Possibly even enlist the help of one or more privacy experts for ideas
and gotchas to avoid.

A user who is thinking of registering should not fear us selling their
online identity to 'the man' or to a SPAM barron.  Users who register
should have complete control over their 'profile' and what if anything
it can be used for.

I read another interesting article about a game or something where users
are rewarded for time spent in the system.  It became wildly popular and
some expert players started selling characters with great power and
experience to wealthy newbees on Ebay. (no kidding!)  We would want to
find a way to prevent this from happening.

Would you want to adopt a policy early on about bots?  Say someone built
a blimp that flys around the OpenVerse listening to all the citizens. 
Say this blimp was not a person but a program that listens all the time
and gathers information about what different folks are talking about. 
Say the owner of the blimp decides to start putting scrolling signs on
the side suggesting products or services that the current visitors may
be interested in?  Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I haven't seen OpenVerse get attacked by a troll yet.  I've seen it
happen in two other systems I've used in the past.  It was interesting
in Avatar Chat because the Troll would spew a giant hunk of text saying
"FLOOD FLOOD FLOOD FLOOD" and thier 'bubble' would cover up the other
avatars and generally distract everyone in the room. 

What do you call a slashdot style moderation scheme anyway?  Its not
censorship but its not exactly moderation either?
--
Jon Winters