If I were a troll and wanted to disrupt Daily Kos, I wouldn't bog down individual diaries with comments that could be troll-rated onto the hidden list. I wouldn't waste my time arguing with
libruls.
If I really wanted to disrupt Daily Kos, I would clog the Recent Diary list with useless unsubstantial diaries. At present (as far as I know) there is no way to delete a diary unless the diarist deletes it.
If I were a troll, I would get together with a half-dozen trollish friends, set up 3 or 4 user-names apiece, wait around for a week, then start posting diaries.
* our diaries would be short (why waste our time)
* our diaries might not be obvious right-wing propaganda (why reveal ourselves and be banned)
* just for added fun, our diaries might have those irritatingly ambiguous titles (e.g. "Can you believe this?") that would disclose nothing of their contents, requiring people to open them.
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Individually, our troll diaries would be innocuous, but there they would sit on the Recent List, taking up space and pushing real Kossaks' diaries off into oblivion.
Note that I don't know how the administration of this site works, but from the standpoint of complete ignorance, it seems that it wouldn't take much work for a small group of dedicated trolls to put a dozen or more empty diaries on the Recent List during peak hours every day. (Correct me if I'm wrong about that.)
There are always a few weak diaries on the list: very short diaries, with little content or discussion, no links--or maybe one. Some would be fantastic as comments in an open thread, but they aren't much as diaries. I generally ignore them, and generally they aren't much of a problem. On my tin-foil-hat days I wonder if they are trolls just trying to waste everyone's time.
What should we do about this, if anything?
One option might be a third diary list: Marginal Diaries, to be located below the Recent Diaries. Readers would have a "Smite This Diary" button as they do a "Recommend" button. If a diary on the Recent list got enough Smites, it would be bumped to the Marginal List. The diary would not be deleted and it would not be hidden from view; it would just be moved from the Recent List to a Marginal List.
Note first that I don't know the first thing about programming and don't know how any of this could be arranged. Recommended diaries don't disappear from the Recent List (rightly so). I don't know if it would be possible to move a diary to a third list. (I was not kidding when I said "complete ignorance" above.)
I'd like to hear your input, gentle readers. I don't want to start a pie fight. But we all know the rules on diaries are being abused by a few now (intentionally or just out of normal human sloppiness), and in theory trolls could cause more serious disruptions.
Are these real and potential abuses enough of a problem that we need a Smite This Diary button?
The greatest objection I can see is the potential for abuse of the system. The first counter-argument to this objection is that a few people are abusing the system now, either as a trollish way to waste time or for some other reason.
QUESTIONS (and some suggested answers)
Would the Smiting system have the same formula as for hiding comments, so that a Recommend could counteract a Smite? And if so, could a theoretical gang of trolls recommend each other to prevent useless diaries from being moved? (If so, they would reveal their gang and we could deal with them.)
Would people start smiting more than the trollish and unsubstantial diaries? (Probably, but if it took a certain number of Smites to move a diary off the Recent List, it might not be a terrible problem.)
Would this be used as a juvenile way to get back at a nemesis? (Almost certainly, but again, it might not be enough to smite worthy diaries.)
Would it destroy the wonderful cacophonous diversity of Daily Kos? (I think not much. We love GBCW and AIAA diaries, the late night silly diaries, and we LOVE pie.)
How would it be policed, if at all? (Don't know.)
How would we deal with abuses, other than writing deliciously whiny smiting abuse diaries to attract pooties and snarkiness? (Don't know.)
Should a Smite this Diary button be reserved for obvious troll diaries--with light-weight diaries tolerated? (Don't know.)
Add questions, concerns, complaints, suggestions below.