There's been a lot of talk over the last 24 hours about how exactly the new moderation robot is going to work to target trolls, deliver fair punishments, and keep people from gaming the system. The system seems vague and curious to the masses, but fear not! I've taken the time to review Elfling's diary and summarize what I found.
Webcam Verification
A new requirement to use DailyKos is to have a working webcam with some respectable amount of resolution. Elfling and her team have struck a deal with the Transportation Security Administration to share facial recognition data to ensure the safety and security of blogging, while protecting the renowned level of intellectual integrity DailyKos is known for.
Here's a video of the system being tested:
Don't worry if you don't have a webcam or if you have it covered up with tape out of paranoia. Your friendly neighborhood KosSpy will take a quick Polaroid of you through the crack in the blinds and scan it through the servers to verify you and let you into the site.
USB Brethalyzer Deluxe 4000©®™
For a mandatory fee of $92.17, you will be sent a USB breathalyzer kit to be used before posting a diary or comment. To use, simply insert your dongle into the hole and blow. If the servers register your blood alcohol content above the Legal Blogging Limit (point oh oh), your account will be deleted and you will be forced to listen to the Kidz Bop version of Harlem Shake until you've sobered up.
If you feel the servers registered a false positive, tough skerples. You have no recourse.
Hide Rating
The new rules for HRing comments is simple.
- If a comment begins with the letters A-L and was posted on an odd numbered day on the Julian calendar, only users whose screennames begin with the letters M-Z may HR the comment within three hours of its posting.
- If a comment begins with the letters M-Z and was posted on an even numbered day on the Julian calendar, you cannot HR it.
- No one user may HR the same commenter more than once per day, twice per week, and a total of four times per user life. You may HR the same user one additional time in the afterlife or any subsequent spiritual respawns, but it is only worth one-seventeenth of a first-life HR.
- If one user receives two HRs on one comment, the comment is hidden and the user is warned.
- If one user receives two HRs on two comments for a total of 4 HRs in one twenty-four hour period, the user is put in a three day timeout.
- If one user receives two or more HRs on more than two comments in one twenty-four hour period, the user is placed in a North Korean labor camp.
Many healthy, level-headed debates have occurred at DailyKos over the years surrounding exactly what kind of comments are worthy of receiving HRs. The general rule, proposed by Markos in his famous Ultra-Specific No Room For Misinterpretation Fleeting Comment of 2012, is "don't be a dick." But that's too vague. Here's the real list of HRable comments.
- Personal insults.
- Posting personal information (colloquially known as "outing.").
- Posting information critical of Markos or any other employee of Kos Media, LLC. in the past, present, or future.
- Failing to post daily praise of Markos or any other employee of Kos Media, LLC.
- Comments that signal disagreement with a diarist, so long as the diarist says "you can't disagree with me or I'll HR you" in a disclaimer in the diary.
- Posting spam. It is very unhealthy and your cholesterol is outrageous young man.
- Typos.
- Cat pictures.
- Any post containing the English language.
- Any post that offends the ultra-sensitive feelings of KosBot.
This list of rules was pored over by thousands of experts, and are determined to be flawless and immune to criticism, just like every diary ever posted.
The Simplified Hidden Comments Formula
Several members have tried to figure out the mathematical formula for sending a comment to the hiddens. It used to be a simplistic 3x+1. Nay nay. We've discovered that they rejiggered it to reflect the latest in prevendicktive moderation technology.
The new formula is as follows:
...but only when theta is equal to or less than pie.
It's simple, people!
Gaming The System
Gaming the system is not okay. It is a well-documented phenomenon that groups of friends on DailyKos gang up and HR comments of the ideological opposition, and uprate comments made by their friends. But you're not smart enough to outsmart KosBot. The system is omnipresent. In order to log into the site starting tomorrow, you must provide the servers with your Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and email login information. KosBot will go through all of your communications to make sure that you're not collaborating with anyone.
The system will also alert administrators when mischief is afoot. The first few hundred notifications will be ignored, and when they finally decide to act, they'll ban everyone.
The system will have worked when there is nobody left on the site. DailyKos hopes to have completed this goal by mid-2014.
There you have it. That's the simplified KosBot Moderation System. If you have any questions, don't bother asking KosBot, because it's just computer software. It has no ability to think.