Subject: Re: PEN abuses

From: [email-masked] (Paul Resnick)
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 13:21:03 -0800

> From: Pavel Curtis <[email-masked]>
> Date:   Mon, 8 Feb 1993 09:57:58 PST
> 

> I think that virtual societies may need more collective mechanisms for
> protection than simple, individual-receiver gagging.
> 

I agree. We already have many informal collective mechanisms that work to
varying extents in real communities, and a few less powerful ones that work
on-line.  Extending the on-line mechanisms is a very interesting area of
research. The Information Tapestry project at PARC, as reported in the Dec.
1992 issue of CACM, appears to provide building blocks for such mechanisms. It
allows users to select which electronic documents to read based not only on the
contents of the documents but based on comments about the documents that others
have submitted.  Perhaps your are involved in this project, Pavel.

It would be interesting to think about ways to apply collective filtering
methods to the real-time conversations of MUDs.

Of course, filtering techniques are only one way of taking action to prevent
flaming. The original message that began this conversation did suggest some
more social mechanisms, such as education and wise elders, that could be
institutionalized as well. Are there more ideas along these lines? Are there
ways to ensure the effects of collective filtering will be educational for the
people being filtered?

-Paul-