Force Commentator's to Filter Their Own Comments

bargrin on 05/10/2024 - 10:32
Last edited 05/10/2024 - 10:39

Long time member since 2006 when Ozbargain was in infancy.

The site has SIGNIFICANTLY changed for the better since then with an explosion in new users, which has been extraordinary and to be praised!

However, with an explosion in new users, comes an explosion in new voices, each with their own explosive personalities and their own explosive opinions (welcome to the internet, yes).

The problem

Now to get to the real discussion of a deal you need to navigate a huge MESS of comments that add nothing but personal opinion, personal humour or personal insults.

The solution

I suggest we create a new check box for every comment a user posts to a bargain.

Whereby the user takes responsibility for their post and informs the community that their comment is unhelpful either due to it being, a joke, a personal opinion, an insult, a trolling comment.

This can be administered by a check box that THEY need to unpick to confirm before the comment is posted. There by putting responsibility on them.

The intended outcome

We should not make readers (you and me) the first filter of a comment, we should put that responsibility on the commentor, the same way we do with new deal posts.

Their comment will still go through and be posted for the community BUT those like myself who don't have time to read all comments can go into our settings and choose to hide those comments as we just want to read genuine discussion.

Why this is needed

I believe 99% of users who post such unhelpful comments know their comments are useless to the bargain discussion at hand, but they just need to comment (again, yes, welcome to the internet).

However, now we give those 99% of users the chance to flag to the community that their comment can be ignored (once you update your settings) beacuse the comment is intented to be unhelpful to the discussion, being personal opinion, joke, insult or even just off topic.

For the 1% that untick because they don't care their comment is unhelpful, that then is when the readers step in and vote down & notify the moderators that this person is ignoring the tick box.

For those users that rack up significant notifications to the moderator for posting unhelpful comments that they ticked as being helpful, then the moderators can step in.

The future of OzBargan

With this proposal, the future of OzBargain can be a genuine and unique place to discuss bargains or it can be like any other site overun by personal opinonators, would-be comedians, haters, trollers and their mess of unhelpful comments.

Here is a random example, see comments in this deal

Site Discussion

Comments

  • Tee Rex Arms on 05/10/2024 - 10:38
    +6

    No thanks, welcome to the internet (as per post).

    N.B nil by tick

    • HeWhoKnows on 06/10/2024 - 08:56
      -5

      Where is the YES/NO poll ?

      I tick YES.

      Way too many unhelpful garbage comments being posted plus insults to boot.

      But OP has conflicted themselves with this comment:

      "The site has SIGNIFICANTLY changed for the better"

      • SBOB on 06/10/2024 - 09:01
        +6

        Way too many unhelpful garbage comments being posted

        I looked up irony in the dictionary. It was just a link to this post of yours.

        From the 'reply to the top comment and add nothing' poster child, this is indeed next level art imitating life :)

        • HeWhoKnows on 06/10/2024 - 09:07
          -6

          Yes, I see you like to challenge my comments with the usual unhelpful replies.

          At least I am consistent.

          I mostly put up helpful and factual replies

          Your comment just reinforces what I have said.

          Yours would need a ticked check box (typical for you)

          • ihfree on 06/10/2024 - 10:09
            +3

            @HeWhoKnows: Most consistently wrong or off the mark and thanks to your habit of a replying to the first comment, most visibly wrong.

            Hey, remember when you randomly told off a user off 5 years after their comment?

            • 2025 on 06/10/2024 - 11:05

              @ihfree: lol the joke of it is, 5 years before, in the exact same thread, hewhoknows knows what it’s like to have issues porting

              Mind you - had the same problem recently porting from Optus to Amaysim and all details were checked to be identical so dont think its just Boost.

  • bdl on 05/10/2024 - 10:39
    +2

    Needs mspaint diagram

  • MS Paint on 05/10/2024 - 10:39
    +7

    What you talkin' about Willis?

    Long time member since 2006

    Member Since
    18/09/2007

    The future of OzBargan

    It's Ozbargain - with an i

  • Ocker on 05/10/2024 - 10:46
    +2

    Get a life and get out of mine

    • GnarlyKnuckles on 06/10/2024 - 01:22

      Yeah, that all sounds like a load of overly complicated unnecessary tripe.

      Anyways OP, what is it with hedgehogs … I mean, why can't they all just share the hedge?

  • JIMB0 on 05/10/2024 - 10:47
    +7

    You know there's an option to hide a user's comments.

    • pegaxs on 05/10/2024 - 11:15
      +1

      Or report them if it's say… off topic/trolling/offensive/spam/personal insults/illegal/inappropriate… etc.

  • scotty on 05/10/2024 - 10:47
    +4

    What I would like to implement is Slashdot's comment meta-moderation feature where the community can classify a comment as Funny, Informative, Troll, etc. That's on top of existing comment votes.

    Don't know when I will ever get to implement that though.

  • Aureus on 05/10/2024 - 10:59
    +5

    Yeah, nah

  • pegaxs on 05/10/2024 - 11:11
    +7

    Lol… And the trolls gonna troll and just click the box. It's just an extra step between them typing and then publishing… May as well put in a Re-Capture where we have to spend 45 mins clicking on fire hydrants and motorcycles… Trolls are just going to select "serious answer" and click post. Trolls are not going to mark their own replies as anything other than "serious, I'm not joking…"

    We already have a button that works pretty well… it's under the person's comment and it is labeled as "report"

    like myself… can go into our settings and choose to hide those comments

    You can already do this. Go to the offending users name, under their comment there will be a box called "hide", you click on that and then it will give you the option to "hide all these users comments" and refresh the page… voila, all their comments are hidden…

    Edit:
    LOL @ stalker going around and negging just my comments. Hope it makes you feel better, champ :D

    • HeWhoKnows on 06/10/2024 - 09:15
      -4

      Thx for sharing

  • ozbargainsam on 05/10/2024 - 11:12
    -1

    I've shared this opinion as well, and predictably, you're going to get all the regulars coming in and posting against it.

    The site is fairly civil for an online community, so the moderation must be working well, but the regulars who sit on the live feed and just post the first funny, unhelpful thing to come into their head on each new post is going to get tiring and make this community insular and scare away new people looking for helpful advice.

    Scotty's idea means the regulars can have their banter, and the casuals that don't need to weed through the 90% of in-jokes, can get the info they need.

    • HeWhoKnows on 06/10/2024 - 09:18

      Agree 100%

      Too many people posting time wasting, unhelpful, if not insulting comments and the poor poster or (useful) commenter feels embarrassed.

      Eventually all the 'serious" people trying to help will just back out of here leaving the place full of trolls

      • 2025 on 06/10/2024 - 09:33
        +1

        Agreed; like this recent thread including in the title “0% international transaction fees” then it turns out none of the cards that were suggested offer that, I’m convinced it was just click bait trolling.

        Wait, OP of that thread was you!?!

      • scotty on 06/10/2024 - 17:01
        +1

        I'm +1 your comment because that's exactly what I have observed over the years — not-informative / useless comments congregated at the top of request-for-help forum post. Some might be considered funny but I do not think that's what the OP of those forum posts are looking for.

        Unfortunately I do not think having a checkbox "this reply this serious" is going to help. I do not believe having moderation helps either — for a period of time the moderators are marking first few non-relevant comments as "Off-topics" (so collapsed by default) but no visible behaviour change. It's a community prioritising having fun at the expense of those being helpful & constructive. Funny and irrelevant comments get voted up because others aren't interested in resolving OP's problem either. No amount of filtering and comment classifications will help when it becomes community mindset.

        • randomusername2017 on 06/10/2024 - 17:39

          Add a "did you Google that first" check box to request -for-help posts 🤔

  • randomusername2017 on 05/10/2024 - 11:15
    +4

    How nice is the weather in Sydney today.

    ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

  • plmko on 05/10/2024 - 11:17

    Lol

  • djsweet on 05/10/2024 - 11:26

    lol is this a troll post?

  • JIMB0 on 05/10/2024 - 11:35
    +2

    I take it that you want to block jv but are worried you'll miss out on some useful comments.

    • HeWhoKnows on 06/10/2024 - 09:19

      Tis very true with jv.

  • EightImmortals on 05/10/2024 - 12:08
    -2

    Kinda like this you mean?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_and_self-criticism_(Marxism%E2%80%93Leninism)

    Nah, it's been tried, didn't work out too well.

  • SBOB on 05/10/2024 - 12:09
    +7

    If the only comments under bargain posts were specifically about that bargain, I think the regular browsing of this site would become less interesting/engaging.

    • payton on 05/10/2024 - 12:43

      If the only comments under bargain posts were specifically about that bargain

      Member Since 15/02/2011
      Your account is over 20 months older than mine. I clearly remember when I joined the deal pages (not sure about the forums) were a lot more matter of fact, just as you described.
      The style of responses were similar to technical forums like stackexchange.

      One of the exceptions were price-error level of discount eg the Asus slate tablet from HN that didn't get honoured. JFC the number of ferals who said they would abuse retail staff, lodge frivilous complaints etc when they didn't get what they want.

  • mapax on 05/10/2024 - 12:14
    +2

    Neg

  • payton on 05/10/2024 - 12:27
    +4

    This has about as much chance of success as forcing drink drivers to tap 'I'm not drunk' on their phone.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KG_AMMz4PQ

  • bargaino on 05/10/2024 - 12:29
    +2

    Here is a random example, see comments in this deal

    joke post gets joke comments. I don't see the problem. You don't need to read it if humour is not your thing.

    ☑️ yes I read the terms and conditions. 🤞

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 05/10/2024 - 12:37
    +6

    those like myself who don't have time to read all comments

    How much commentary do you need from ozbargain experts to decide if a post about a basketball is for you?

  • poor_me on 05/10/2024 - 12:40

    This post is an opinion and non bargain-related - DELETE

  • Benoffie on 05/10/2024 - 13:34
    +1

    Honestly, I come here for the 💩 posts. If it weren't for them, I'd have to go back to enduring that Other Place or just telling my sister, who's an idiot, about my bargain finds.

    Just use the functions available to you and leave us, our $250k bikie lifestyles, and 🍿 in peace.

    . ATO👋

  • altomic on 05/10/2024 - 13:46
    -1

    Typically leftie post wanting to censor free speech /sarcasm tag

    • mskeggs on 05/10/2024 - 18:11
      +1

      So much for the tolerant left.

  • payton on 05/10/2024 - 13:52
    -2

    OP, the number of times you wrote explosives .. explosions, you'd make the Ayatollah blush.

    Now to get to the real discussion of a deal you need to navigate a huge MESS of comments that add nothing but personal opinion, personal humour or personal insults.

    Pretty much inevitable once a forum grows to a certain size, take a look at the larger subreddits. Have you tried the Show Most Voted Comments filter?

  • theHMASfriendship on 05/10/2024 - 14:31

    I’m just here for the bargains

  • sumyungguy on 05/10/2024 - 14:45
    +2

    The root cause of the problem may be the prevelance of hopelessly inane forum posts which entice irrelevant comments

  • brendanm on 05/10/2024 - 15:42
    +1

    This is life. Harden up.

    • mapax on 05/10/2024 - 16:54
      +4

      Some harden up, others just want to be governed harder.

  • ihfree on 05/10/2024 - 16:48

    Sounda like awful UX.

    Can we do the thing where contents are read back to the user before they're allowed to post?

    • mapax on 05/10/2024 - 16:58

      Why? So that if someone is shitposting and they make a spelling mistake they can correct it?

      • ihfree on 05/10/2024 - 18:11

        Perfect example.

        Honestly, I think the system works fine as is - there's moderation and downvoting which can both result in a comment being hidden.

    • SBOB on 05/10/2024 - 17:00

      Really?
      Your last post was the kind of thing the op is taking about :)

      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/15773246/redir

      • ihfree on 06/10/2024 - 09:49

        That's a relevant reply to the above comment which is a off topic comment in response to a sarcastic reply to a hopefully obvious downvoted comment. The actual name of the referenced competition.

        The comment you're responding to is probably a better example - a xkcd reference which could have gone into more detail rather than simply stating bad UX. For example suggesting giving more detail as to why a unhelpful checkbox is awful UX or alternate solutions - it could be solved in different ways such as adding functionality to sort comments by score.

  • miwahni on 05/10/2024 - 23:14
    +1

    I'd support this if it included grammar / punctuation eg ban all use of the greengrocer's apostrophe… sorry OP you lost me with that.

    • 2025 on 06/10/2024 - 10:55

      Ye’s thi’s

  • AngoraFish on 05/10/2024 - 23:42

    wtf?

  • 2025 on 06/10/2024 - 09:59

    How is this thread helpful? The first filter is already the commenter, when they decide to click “post comment”. If a comment isn’t relevant to you, it may be relevant to the next reader.

    Ozbargain has a vote system on comments, if there are enough negative votes, the comment is hidden.

    Personal opinion on a product or company goes a long way to assessing a purchase of the product, I’m over paid shills in the media “reviewing” a product, while their review is nothing more than another version of the product brochure.

  • randomusername2017 on 06/10/2024 - 10:48

    @bargrin

    Post and ghost?

  • elgrande on 06/10/2024 - 10:58
    +2

    Comment Type: Helpful
    Comment: You need to get out more.

    Apply Bikies (Yes/No): Yes
    MSPaint Diagram (Yes/No): No
    3rd Party Insurance Only (Yes/No): Probably

  • gyrex on 06/10/2024 - 14:32
    -1

    Can we add the option for people to fix grammatical errors in posts such as *commentators? I wish people would learn how to use apostrophes.

  • munecito on 06/10/2024 - 14:44

    So like a self checkout but in ozbargain. I avoid those.

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