What’s the biggest problem with user-generated content? The users.

Well not always, admittedly. But over at listopia.co.uk Mr Log and I have already got this problem. Last week, while the site was still very much in beta and only very softly launched, we celebrated our 100th registered user (via the medium of a gmail conversation, much cheaper than champagne and caviar). A few days later about half of our new users turned out to be idiots, and the quality of our little side project is much watered down.

At work, moderation is simple. Ban users or block comments if they break these rules.

But how do you moderate humour? Humour is so subjective. Should I block a list or ban a user just because I don’t find it, or them funny? Aren’t some things funny precisely because they’re weak? What’s brown and sticky? Can you even attempt to write a set of rules around being funny?

You can’t. So you have to trust to the users to some extent.

As soon we can get to a pub, Log and I are going to define that extent. We’re also going to develop more user rating of content. Currently people can “thumb up” pages so the funnier stuff floats to the top. But now we think we also need a “thumb down” option so the bad stuff sinks to the bottom, preferably without trace. And we will probably still need to ban or block users to stop it drfiting too far from its original intentions. Until then, we’ve hidden the chaff from view.

If you want to help us tip the balance of quality back in our favour, go and sign up. Once you’re in you could also help us out by contributing to the slogan ideas list.

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