Post by Miyari
As a moderator rule, comments are
rarely deleted. There are very few situations in which a comment will be straight-out deleted rather than purged:
- Blatant advertising (especially for anything against the ToS) - Users advertising gold/honor/powerleveling sites, directly intending to direct traffic from the site for no beneficial purpose, etc.
- Inaccurate/now-outdated information - Rather than "penalizing" a user (and I use that word VERY lightly, it really shouldn't matter) or having to wait for what might be an obscure comment to be removed from the system through gradual downranking when it is immediately erroneous, a comment can be deleted.
- Hate, trolling, argument posts - Anything that would probably be deleted from forums, you better believe won't fare much better in a page's comment. Typically trolling/argumentative posts will either be completely deleted, or will have any retaliatory/flaming content edited out if any legitimate and informative comment body is still present.
There is no simple fix to avoid comment system rating abuse. Will it happen? Yes. It happens
everywhere. Slashdot, Digg, YTMND - it doesn't matter. Sites with rating systems are constantly trying to re-work their systems to prevent users from abusing it, but the cruel reality every webmaster must face is simple. In the situation that a user is given the ability to alter the state of any part of a website, I can guarantee you there will be people who will abuse it. The same guy who would kill your level 32 in Stranglethorn Vale with his level 70 rogue might be the same guy who thinks its hilarious to downrate legitimate comments on Wowhead. You can reference the
worksafe version of John Gabriel's Internet %^&*wad Theory - that's just the way people are going to be. Do we want to take steps towards trying to make the system LESS abusable -
yes, everyone would love that. Is it easy? No.
Do I think that stripping users of recognition for their positive contribution to the site is the answer? No, absolutely not. I don't expect user names to EVER be removed from comments. That's just an internet standard (one of the few we actually follow) - I don't want to say that a user would be LESS inclined to make useful contents if their name did not show up on it, but it's true. While I'm a firm believer that stats in user profiles shouldn't be overglorified, I also appreciate users who do take the time to make constructive comments, take excellent screenshots, and be an invaluable asset to our site. These people deserve to have their name on their work, it's a small nod of recognition for what is (usually) a job well done. If it's
not a job well done, then it's up to our users to note that and rate comments accordingly.
I think one step we can take is adjusting which users have the privilege to rate comments. Rather than being able to simply make an account, log-in, and go on a comment rating spree perhaps there could be some guidelines which must be met before such "power" is granted. We'll see what we can do about that, when we can, naturally. We do appreciate the constructive criticism that the comment system receives but I would ask that users be bit less aggressive and understand the pressures behind the system.
I've had comments deleted/purged for various reasons, just like any user. It's going to happen, the best way you can look at it is constructively. Assume that your comment was downrated for appropriate reasons, and see what you can change to make it more accurate, more informative or less likely to recieve further downrating. If you believe that your comment was downrated as part of some malicious act (such as noticing that ALL of your comments have received a rate down) then simply report it to us for investigation. If that is the case, we can take action on the offending user and we have one less Internet #$%^wad around Wowhead.
Ultimately, the
comment system is working as intended - however, some
users are not. Thankfully, we have far more users contributing to the site in a constructive and legitimate manner than those simply abusing the services and features. However, like I said before - it's going to happen and the best we can do about it right now is implore our users to use site features accordingly to aid in combatting the negative actions of those users abusing the system.
