Fighting Blight
Unlike Bot Blight, Human Blight seems destined to require human policing. Strategies for countering human blight must be scalable to allow community growth without infinite resources while not stifling discussion or creating hegemony. Successful communities generally use a combination of some or all of these anti-blight strategies.
Socialization
Users can be taught how to welcome new members and help them
adapt. Communities that encourage an open, friendly atmosphere experience
more growth.
Community Policing
When community members are empowered to identify and
combat Human Blight, it creates a scalable scenario. An example of this
strategy is Craigslist's flagging system that
allows users to flag a post. When enough users flag a post, it is removed
from the system. Wikipedia uses a more sophisticated approach where by
trusted users may be given extra rights and tools for combating griefers and
trolls.
Automated Defenses
Bots can be programmed to identify and clean up the
most common forms of blight through pattern matching. Bots are especially
effective at spotting and reverting vandalism, spam, and inappropriate adult
content. Wikipedia uses a system of Bots to patrol recent changes: ClueBot automatically detects and
reverts vandalism, and reports any editing via open proxies.
Super-Moderator
Tough cases, such as those involving sock puppetry, may
require a super-user with access to technical tools. These tasks can only
be delegated to highly trusted users.
Entity of Record
Legal issues involving predators may demand a formal
investigation by trained staff and filing reports with the authorities.
Community members should be trained to spot potential problems and report
them for investigation by trained staff.