We're different here, but not different enough, at least not yet.

We have two problems, and I have one solution for both.

First problem, the little guy. He arrives with a suitcase full of hopes and dreams, and a reputation of 25.
He'll pick it up as he goes along.
Except he found a popular post and spammed the comments.
He offered to follow for follow, or posted with popular tags, instead of pertinent ones.
He's worked it out now, and learned his lesson, but the damage is done.

Source

It's possible to reset, start again with a new name, but it's not easy, and not everyone has the skills. We'd also prefer they didn't.

Found in a steemit facebook group

Now a lot of this we can't help, but one big downvote magnet will have been his comments on posts, particularly the posts of orcas and whales.
He should have learned how to swim by paddling in the shallows , but we let him dive straight in to the briny deep and he drowned.

My suggestion would have slowed him down a little, and maybe that's a good thing.

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The other problem is the big guy, a celebrity. Let's say Ashton Kutcher.

I can't comment on Ashton's posts here. Ned himself can't.
Nobody can because Ashton isn't here.
That's our baseline for comparison, zero Ashton. So how do we increase our total Ashton?
He may be on twitter, he may be on facebook, he may engage on those platforms a lot or a little, but wherever he chooses to engage with the public, he has to deal with trolls.
They're noise, they get in the way, and they do it because it costs them nothing.

I suggest, that when checking the 50/50 or 100% boxes, and typing in the tags, there should be a new slider, where the author can manually select the minimum reputation required to comment on the post.

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I raised this idea 9 months ago, and I think the platform has matured sufficiently to put it back on the table.

The big, immediate objection is that it would make it harder for the little guy to build his reputation.
But let's take a closer look.
Most posters want comments. I imagine the average slider bar selection would be about 30.
Lots of posters would leave it on the current default of 25, a few larger orcas would probably bump it up to 40 or 50, and real heavyweights like Ned and Ashton would have it on 60 or 65.
Newcomers like our friend Alaa Abu Jabal would likely be capable of commenting on the majority of posts from the outset.
As he grew in reputation, and became more familiar with the expectations of the community, he'd be capable of commenting on more and more of those few posts initially denied him by the slider bar, and that's a good thing.

I'm sure if we asked him, he'd suggest that this limitation would have helped him a lot, by keeping him out of the path of big downvoting whales, until he learned to swim.

Ashton, by all accounts, is a great guy. He's personable and fun, and I'm sure he'd like to chat with everyone who wants to chat with him, but logistics get in the way.
There are too many of us, and too few of him.
Is it better that nobody gets to comment on his posts because he's not here, or that only some people can, only after consistently doing the right thing?
Some celebrities ration their time by appearing at conventions, where the entry price filters out those would couldn't afford or didn't prioritise the price of admission.

What I was really trying not to do was have elitist tickets.
I didn’t want people to pay $170 and get front row tickets and a meet and greet. I hate that shit.
The moment you allow a kid with a rich father to have more things than a kid with a poor father I think that’s shit.
It’s great that $99 is affordable, but I wanted it to be the same price for everyone. - Ed Sheeran

I think a system more appealing to the fairer minded celebrity, would be one where anyone at all could have a few seconds of their time, just by demonstrating a history of kind, respectful, insightful discourse.

And this is exactly what we have with the current reputation system

You don't need money to get into fight club, you just need to stand on the porch for a few days.

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@cryptogee just posted a great piece about the dangers of spamming comments, and used a house party as an analogy

If we own our posts like we own our house, shouldn't we be able to decide who comes to the party?
Wouldn't that keep everyone on their best behaviour?

Quick edit: Ed Sheeran just quit Twitter, sick of dealing with trolls.

What are your thoughts?