The Question and Answer Board

[IH Geek [Dave]]

The metrics say that discussion/chat investment community at large wants more flexibility for and less moderation of content. It's not just iHub; this debate has been raging for years at many levels; within social media itself, in the mainstream media, in state and federal legislatures, etc. Many argue for more content moderation, many argue for less.

Content moderation is hard at any scale, but the larger the scale the harder it is. Each and every decision to remove or not remove content to which someone objects pisses off some and makes others happy.

We've always had two principle drivers for content moderation; 1) we do not moderate content on the basis of investment sentiment expressed by the author, and 2) we are not arbiters of truth and do not moderate content on the basis of its alleged veracity (truthfulness). We defer to each reader to assess the veracity of what they read for themselves. Our moderation policies have to do mostly with conduct, not subjective content. Conduct rules are by their very nature less exact and subjection to different interpretations, and therein lies the core problem with content moderation. Tastes great vs. less filling. There are some limited exceptions where we draw a more distinct line in the sand, such as discussion about minors, threats of physical harm, and violations of privacy.

Rules beget people who live for the opportunity to test the limits of the rules, which often results in more rules. It's a vicious cycle that results in "rule creep." It's not a concept limited to social media; just look at the massively bloated US Code or any state/local government's laws and statutes. The government statute books have become so bloated that we're now in an age of "show me a man and I'll show you a crime."

There is no right or wrong answer to this. Nevertheless, sometimes a house cleaning as we are contemplating is the best albeit painful answer. Just like we're adapting to the times where mobile use eclipses desktop use, we have to adjust to the ever-changing social norms. This is true for every platform, not just iHub. It's just easier for startups because they don't have a legacy to contend with.