Some research I'd like someone else to do

[andrewducker]

I'd like someone to look at all the different commenting systems out there, and work out why some of them have a decent proportion of interesting discussion, while some of them are full of pond scum.

And then write up the findings, along with a nice simple checklist for "How to manage the comments on your site if you want good discussion".

Because, frankly, on 95% of the sites out there I avoid reading the comments, because I know it's just not good for my blood pressure.

Comments

[andrewducker]

Yeah, the unwillingness of moderators to tidy the comments up inevitably leads to disaster. Comments need to be dealt with quickly, otherwise situations deteriorate.

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

It's HOW you deal with them, too. Personally my preferred approach would be something like:

Andrew, [Ad hominem deleted by moderator - be nice, guys, we're all on the same side here], but I agree that comments need to be tidied rapidly.

[andrewducker]

Hey, you can't say that about my mother!

I don't actually have the ability to do that on LJ, but I can freeze and delete comments, which seems to work reasonably well.