Item — HN Reader

I would like this too, and it sounds like a good idea in theory...

But what I worry about is that it may presume that the staff themselves already operate in (your interpretation of) good faith, and I don't think that is always the case.

What is a user's recourse when they disagree with the mods? And what says they will comply with any decision reached from said recourse?

You could say "we must allow disagreements", but at some point this becomes a paradox of tolerance and then you risk it devolving into pointless arguments on either side.

I think the whole "good faith" part could only be enforced by a universally trusted party, like maybe a robot. But even then, people will disagree about how it operates... so maybe this problem is impossible to solve.

1 comments

It’s not just theory. It’s how things work in the actual world that you live in. My “theory” is an attempt to harmonize our procedures with the way we all live in the world right now.

I am a pluralist (a person who accepts that he must live with people he doesn’t necessarily like) not because I want to be, but because the alternative is constant rage and war.

Take any social group, anywhere, ever. Whichever one you choose: there are people who care about each other to some degree, and who hurt each other to some degree, and who have some sort of procedures and heuristics for dealing with that.

I suggest heuristics based on accepting the fact that people will behave in ways that irritate each other, even when a community is maximally healthy. Let’s accept that as normal. Then what? Then let’s work on what it means to be a member of the community. Let’s establish a protocol for membership based on a hierarchy of trust, or prestige, if you will.

Yes, if the trusted people are actually corrupt then your community is screwed. Go and make a new one.

Focus on building personal tolerance and resilience. Distinguish between matters of taste and matters of conscience.

To anyone who says this system leads to discrimination: ALL systems lead to discrimination. Yours does, too. Humans are like that. This problem can only be solved from the heart outward.