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Comments on Hobbling of users who consistently post low-quality content
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Hobbling of users who consistently post low-quality content
There are, unfortunately, a few users on Codidact who relatively consistently make low-quality contributions. These posts often come in bursts and tend to be downvoted fairly quickly, but that doesn't slow them down.
I propose that Codidact should implement some manner in which to slow down such users. They shouldn't be prevented entirely from posting, but there should be limits in place to ensure that their posts don't drown out other content.
I am posting a self-answer with a suggestion for how this can be done, but alternative suggestions (or arguments why this is a bad idea) are certainly welcome!
It sounds like we want to temporarily revoke a person's ability to make lots of posts when recent quality is an issue. …
2y ago
The problem has gotten even worse in the four months since this question was asked. I had forgotten about this question …
2y ago
This is my suggestion for how to implement hobbling of users who consistently post low-quality content. For a final d …
2y ago
This is a proposal for a refinement of Canina's proposal, or any proposal substantially like it, in response to one of c …
2y ago
Maybe I am the one who got downvotes (talking about the CD Meta) rather than anyone else. So do I have some idea what a …
2y ago
Post
The problem has gotten even worse in the four months since this question was asked. I had forgotten about this question, and posted a new one "Need to throttle users with consistently bad posts". Please consider that an "answer" here.
In summary, I looked around on all the sites and found it surprisingly easy to spot the few problem users. You only need to look down the question list for negative scores, then look at who posted those question. The same users appear consistently, in any one site and even across all sites. A couple of users have gotten below -50 rep, but still keep doing the same thing. Take a look at the Outdoors, Math, and Power Users sites for the most egregious examples.
Suggested mechanism
The simple solution I propose is to force a wait time between questions based on your rep. One day (24 hours) for each negative count sounds about right, and is easy for everyone to understand. Someone with -7 rep wouldn't be able to post more than one question per week, for example.
It's time to do something
This question got overwhelming support and the problem has gotten worse since then, but the issue seems to have been forgotten. The duplicate I wrote has also been heavily upvoted despite being closed. I know the developers are volunteers, but at least this should go fairly high up on whatever list of priorities there is.
In the mean time, moderators need to take the initiative and suspend problem users, with the length of the suspension being related to rep or up/down vote totals.
4 comment threads