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3 free ideas for Hacker News
Thu, May 23, 2013 at 11:59 AM by Dave Winer.
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  • A picture named can.gifThe other day I suggested perhaps adding blocking to HN, mostly as a way of starting a discussion. And it led to some interesting ideas that I think are worth considering.
  • A lot of the personal attacks come from accounts created to post one message. The user has never commented before, or submitted a link to the site.
  • So here are some ideas:
    • 1. Add a waiting period before new accounts can post. Like registering a gun.
    • 2. Charge for creating an account. Maybe $5 or so. Not very much money, but perhaps enough to make someone think again. If they want to be anonymous, use Bitcoin. That's what it's for.
    • 3. Automatically downvote posts from accounts created within the last hour. Make it clear to readers that this comment was made by a new account.
  • What made me think of this idea was yet another one-off flame from a user named redmarx who created the account 13 hours ago, the exact same time his post was created. Now what do you think is going on there? A courageous whistle-blower, or a coward who doesn't want to own his or her own words? :-)