Da Grays

"pedal-force" (pedal-force)
08/20/2014 at 22:43 • Filed to: Kinja

I think the old Kinja (before rape gifs, obviously) was slightly better, even if we had to deal with idiots and trolls. Obviously they had to deal with the problem at hand, but I hope this isn't the final iteration. Now the discussion is just broken. Nobody reads the grays, so most of the good commentary is lost. Much of the great commentary comes from people who only comment once or twice, but they have something great to say, or are an expert on some particular topic. Instead of that comment naturally coming to the top as it (sometimes) did, it will be lost in the sea at the bottom and never read. It's a real shame. There has to be a better way than this.

I didn't comment on every single topic, but sometimes when I did, I got 100+ stars. Now those occasional good comments will never get seen. I doubt I'll get followed (especially by Gawker) because 100% of my comments aren't Pulitzer worthy. My level of enjoyment of reading the Gawker family has gone down greatly since the new system was implemented. I come half for the stories and half for the comments. The comment half is greatly lacking now.

I think the actual solution would be to put images (html included) behind a click wall except for approved people. You could approve many more people that way (instead of Gawker's frankly ridiculous "less than 500"), but good discussion would still get stars and move up. Anyone can post text, trolls can still get banned/dismissed, trolls can't post pictures that everyone sees.

Oh well. It's just the internet. Maybe I'll get more work done this way.

DISCUSSION (10)

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > pedal-force
08/20/2014 at 22:46

Well it's not that hard to get ungreyed on Jalopnik. They seem to be probably the easiest gawker media site to get approved for.

 > pedal-force
08/20/2014 at 22:47

Right now it seems whoever is the first to reply gets the most stars regardless of the quality of comment.

mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/ > pedal-force
08/20/2014 at 22:53

I hit "show pending" all the time, for that/those reasons. This is a temporary solution as far as I would expect. Hiring Moderators is the long term solution.

pedal-force > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
08/20/2014 at 22:54

Probably because it's the least visited site, by a good margin. Half the traffic of the second lowest (Kotaku), less than a third of the rest (Gawker, Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker are all basically tied at the top, Jezebel in the middle).

I may get ungrayed here at some point, we'll see, I'm not gonna sweat it. It's mostly Gawker that's gotten awful. I miss commenting there and occasionally getting stars. I'm vain, what can I say.

pedal-force > mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
08/20/2014 at 22:55

Yeah, I'm doing it too, but it's a pain, and everything looks awful. And because there's SO many people who read but don't comment, but can still star, I think the majority of people aren't doing this (based on the reactions to my comments in the past versus today). I haven't gotten double digit stars on a single comment lately.

samssun > pedal-force
08/20/2014 at 22:59

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." — Thomas Jefferson

Unfortunately, there's a group of people who feel the opposite way, and insist the rest of the world be restricted to what they deem acceptable. Very "progressive".

mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/ > pedal-force
08/20/2014 at 23:00

I agree with you. The overwhelming majority will probably never see these grayed comments. So I guess this brings about the old paradox: if a tree falls and no one is around to hear it; does the tree make a sound?

pedal-force > samssun
08/20/2014 at 23:13

I don't think they had a choice about some sort of fix. I couldn't visit at work (or, hell, at home) with those pictures popping up. I do think Gawker's idea of a very small, curated comment section is asinine. I think it should essentially be "everyone who isn't posting gore or porn" gets followed. We'll see how it shakes out I guess.

mcseanerson > pedal-force
08/20/2014 at 23:20

The trick is to reply to something directly to the author so they get a notification and also something where you are quoting one of their paragraphs or highlighting a section of one of their pictures gets more attention. Next the trick is to say something that is both complimenting the authors ego while also witty with a smack of cynicism. I used the glow with pride getting tons of stars. I got so enamored with it I started to become the same click baity whores I despise and in my efforts to get attention I got banished to the greys and nearly banned from Jalopnik.

Took a long time to get out of the grey and I carried a bit of wisdom with me to show restraint and try to only comment when I had something meaningful to say and not be so desperate for stars that I'd be forcing myself to think of something witty about something I didn't care about. Now it seems I'm back in the grey and even though other's give me stars I have a feeling the authors are still irritated with me. I don't mind this time around though because I'd rather enjoy the quality of the conversation on Oppo than the quantity of stars on the front page.

GrauGeist > pedal-force
08/21/2014 at 02:00

Yeah, Jez basically fucked everyone. IMO, this is basically the end of Gawker as a place to interact.