Sit down for a moment commenters, we need to talk.
Yes, you all knew this post was coming one day. We’ve talked about this topic at length internally, and we have decided that we’re going to clean up our act. For some time, Hack a Day has been growing a reputation as the prime source of extremely negative, vulgar, rude, sexist, and inflammatory comments in the hacking community. We’ve had complaints from readers (yes there are readers that aren’t commenters, thousands of them) and fellow members of the hacking community about this problem for a long time. [Eliot] even mentioned it back in 2009 when a job applicant expressed concern. We’ve nicely tried to steer things to the positive in a variety of ways, from suggesting commenters to be more supportive, jokingly making a troll detector, and simply stating that the comments need to stay “on topic and nice”.
When we see things like these tweets by [Jeri Ellsworth], we hang our heads in shame.
She’s not the only one. We actually get this quite regularly. As our readership grows, we see it more and more often. We get emails explaining that people have done a hack but don’t really want to post it because the commenters will just tear it apart in an unnecessarily aggressive and negative way. We have actually had people ask us to remove their projects and comments due to uncivil behavior. Constructive criticism is good, but insulting and angry deconstruction isn’t helpful to anyone.
We’re better than that aren’t we? We are fast, agile and fairly unrestricted in our content. We should be at the center of this community, not on the outer edges, reviled by many for the behavior of a few. Hackaday should be the teacher at the front of the classroom, not the kid in the back throwing wadded up paper at the kids in the front.
What we’re doing:
First off, as far as we can foresee, we will never close the comments section of our web site down. Hackaday should be a home for the entire hacking community and as such, you will always be able to settle in and have a reasonable discussion. We do not want to implement any sort of G+ integration or similar, nor do we want to require registration to leave a comment. We will if we absolutely have to, but lets try to avoid that.
Comment sections and forums have often been a place where negative comments can get out of hand. There are many theories for why this happens, but the result is usually the same: rules and moderation. Many sites have already laid down the law and are adhering to their goals of keeping things civil. We realize that we are to blame if our image is this poor, so we are doing something about it.
From this point moving forward, Hackaday comments will be civil. If you are posting an empty in-joke (“where’s the Arduino?”), a declaration of “not a hack”, a racist, sexist, completely off topic, platform-hating, or personally insulting comment, your post will be deleted. This will be at the discretion of whichever Hackaday staff member happens to see your comment first.
Can you criticize Hackaday?
You can’t walk into a business and start screaming about how much they suck without being escorted out immediately. Same thing applies here.
We are always hard at work trying to find interesting hacks, makes, repairs, tweaks, videos, etc. that appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. We put this web site together for you, as well as 200,000 other individuals. Not everything will appeal to everybody. That would be impossible. However, if you don’t like a post or project, just skip it – we’ll have another one ready in short order. We will feature projects that appeal to the seasoned EE as well as the complete beginner. We were all beginners at one time, and it would have been great to have something like Hack a Day around back then to show us hacks ranging from simple to advanced.
From time to time however, Hack a Day can be a less than desirable place to hang out, especially for those who are coming here for the first time. We don’t want to chase off young, creative minds. As a community, we should be helping those that are just starting to venture into hacking electronics.
If you have a problem, email us. You’ll probably actually get a response that way too. My email is Caleb@ and you’re always welcome to email me personally. Again, please be civil (yep, I’ve had my share of death threats).
Grammar/spelling corrections and dead links:
No need to comment, just email us. A message to team@ will suffice, but you will probably get a quicker response by emailing the author directly. We know we have issues – we’re often so excited about a hack that some little goof slips by. Email us and we’ll fix it. Don’t write a 3 paragraph comment about how important the oxford comma is, or how we’re obviously incapable of functioning because we accidentally flubbed a word. We promise we will never intentionally screw up some grammar, spelling, or punctuation.
What you can will do to help:
Be constructive.
Every project here probably has an area that could be improved, or a part that was done inefficiently. Support your fellow hackers by offering your expertise. Explain why something isn’t working, or how you would improve it. Don’t slam them for their shortcomings. Also keep in mind that different people go about things different ways. Poster X didn’t build something the way you did? Offer an alternative without being insulting. If someone chooses to use their brand new Core i7 monster system to drive a few LEDs, that’s their prerogative. Inside, we all know that it is not the most efficient use of money or technology, there’s no reason to beat that dead horse in public.
You know what else encourages hackers to do more projects? A pat on the back. I talk to people all the time who say that they just don’t have any constructive criticism for the projects, so they don’t comment. Well, that and they know they’ll bring the ire of the worst commenters if they happen to ask a silly question. Drop in and say what you like about a project. Those positive posts might just be enough to encourage that hacker to take it a step further. How many projects have you seen dropped simply because people thought there wasn’t any interest? Tons. If you like a project, let them know.
To encourage this, the writers are going to be keeping an eye on the comments. Randomly, when we see someone being exceptionally helpful, we’ll contact them and send them a prize. This will most likely be in the form of a hackaday sticker, but we’ll see if we can’t find some other fun things as well.
Help us make Hack a Day great. Please.
[Update: we’re working on a comment flagging system currently]
[Update: threading and comment reporting have been added]
This post has made me realise that I just don’t read the comments here any more. I can’t remember exactly when it happened, but at some point I unconsciously decided that all the “Arduino – lame” “Instructables – whine” “Hey look, a girl” wasn’t worth wading through.
I say be very aggressive about deleting comments. Even if a comment has some good stuff in. Don’t ban people, but let the commenters edit out the junk themselves and try again.
I am a long time reader, first time commenter; I feel compelled to say that this is a welcome positive change – well done HaD. I often found that sifting through the trolls to find the interesting and inspiring comments took a lot of the fun out of reading, and made me back off when I had some constructive comments of my own in fear of the unjust wrath being unleashed upon me.
I totally support your efforts in trying to make this valued community a more positive and hacker-friendly place that it always should have been. I remember HaD back in the early days when negativity was rare and enthusiasm and appetite for new, exciting and fresh hacks was high – this is why I return here a few times every day, in the hope of recapturing that feeling I first had when reading the site comments all them years ago. Sure, the articles are very good and kept me coming back year in year out but often the best and most inspiring content is right here in the comments.
Keep up the good work guys.
most of us experience what PC BS did to US
Glad to see you are taking some action.
Personally I’d make people register to comment, so that banning actually does cause them more effort to return than they probably care to.
I suppose I’ve been the grammar guy now and then, and Jeri IS quite attractive, but sometimes the comments section does seem to degrade into grade-school level inanity. But the arduino jokes were tired a LONG time ago.
I would no sooner expect a “Where’s the arduino” post to remain than the ever-useless “first post!1!!1!” guy. I’ve actually seen sites where it is the norm to COMPETE for first post. -.-
@pt
i agree with a lot of what you say. where would you draw the line with what’s acceptable?
i would definately say that racism, bullying, sexual harassment and anything like that shouldn’t be tolerated, no way, but what about differences of opinion on the technical aspects of a ‘hack’?
i for one want to hear what some of the more knowledgeable guys have to say, if its informative
Finally! As suggested, a “report” button would be nice as well. Maybe ala engadget?
Additionally, a threaded comment system (and a wider ‘table’) would help to maintain some overview (and easier to skip comments).
How about a FIRST!!! filter?
Interesting. If I grep for every comment under this article that -doesn’t- contain both “long time” and “first time,” there’s -almost- a conversation or two to be found in these few hundred posts!
I guess that means it’s working. (Right?)
say goodbye to negative and critical comments on pretty much everything..
censorship for marketing..yay
Hey first time comment long time reader.
I don’t usually read a lot of the comments but since you say people have been complaining for a while it’s good that you guys are taking a stand.
I like this site there is always a tab opened with it. It’s great seeing what people come up with even if most of the things I am not even close to being able to comprehend it’s still nice just seeing this being made.
Arent you at hackaday to blame as much as the commenters?
I mean for instance when you publish articles like the playerchoice10 nes mod, if youd done some research about it this hack is as old as the NES itself (almost) therefore the newsvalue is as good as toilett paper, also its a none impressive hack as its a chip replacement by slaughtering a very very rare piece of hardware this will cause anger amongst most collectors,
lets try to keep in mind what a ‘hack’ is by your definition i used to hack 24/7 when i repaired tv’s as i was swapping IC chips and components all day long.
Im not saying that commenters arent to blame but alot of it could be avoided if the site researched or thought a little bit before posting an article.
This site isnt too picky. Its not about making news here (for most people). Its about doing something giggle worthy.
Like the gameboy belt buckle.
Did you get your poops and giggles when you read about it?
I agree that a comment rating system would (hopefully) bring all of the valuable comments to the top (of which there are many) and leave the douchey, snide, childish “I’m cooler than you” comments on the bottom. That way the rest of us wouldn’t have to sift through all the crap to get to them.
@pt: if the quality of the site is now worse than 5 years ago it is because the quality/worthiness of posts is now worse than 5 years ago while the visiting crowd is larger than 5 years ago.
Isn’t it exactly what you wanted some time ago? Nobody remembers when HaD suddenly started posting 8 nonhacks a day instead of 1 hack a day? It was done to attract public. It worked. The kind of public that’s attracted by crappy posts tends to post crappy comments.
Make your editors moderate their posts and people will have no reason to complain, by trolling or otherwise.
what are peoples real expectations of HaD, and of hacks in general.
I come here to read the Roomba air quality article well as using storage solutions to store things in (clearly not a hack).
Interestingly though, the Roomba team used a Roomba designed for moving around a room, and Air quality meter designed for measuring air quality, and an Arduino designed for interfacing different devices…by some definition not a hack.
Just because a mcu is flashing an LED doesnt mean a 555 does a “better” job. And by definition an LED is supposed to light up – so surely the only hacky way of using an LED is as a photodiode.
Long time reader(more than 2 years)…first(or second?!?1) time poster. I’m with you HAD, You get what you deserve. Why people think disrespect is liberty?
Some people are saying that they don’t come back… If you only have a constructive comment to post i don’t see any reason to leave HAD.
Keep the good work.
Long time reader, second time commenter, first post concerning Jeri I read… Can everybody live in the same World (Wide Wild Web) ?
Assholes help me to raise my english language level.
White knights help me to raise my tech level.
I do not like each of them. I do not hate any of them. I just consider I have to live with all of them. Hopefully some like Matt show us the way.
May be to clean without censorship, would it be great HaD staff tag comments ? So readers can choose the ones they want to read.
@Aleks Clark
You have failed to understand the dynamics of the situation.
Yes it is the ‘person’ and the context that matters, because everyone has to learn…. This is where great hacks come from.
Following your logic only P.h.d level Hadron Collider hacks should be permitted.
A working example
My first hack was at the age of 6 (40 years ago), three neon bulbs in series into the UK mains….. boy did I find out WHY there should be resistors in there, and why V/IR does not always apply.
Now I hardware hack tablets & computer systems.
So we are going to a moderated HaD? Good. I support this, and will continue to read HaD, and, when I actually finish a project that isn’t just part of my day job, I will post it.
Comments about “you could have done this better, faster, neater” can be constructive. Destructive (“this sucks because it costs 2c more than my version”) does not help.
@CyD
I agree with you.
Would be great if HaD could tag comments so we can read what we want to.
The average post gets 10-40 comments. Yet there are hundreds of supposedly different people, commenting that they had previously hated the HaD comment section etc.
If only 10% of you had posted on the projects, you’d have instantly outweighed any negative comments. So do I have faith in what I’m reading here today? No, not really.
Projects will continue to get posted and we’ll never heard from those whiny bitches above. The loyal readers probably wont comment as much for fear of being deleted because they didn’t say “omg that’s so great, let me lick your anus”.
The content on HaD is average at best. You need the comments just to keep people coming back!
I don’t think this works, maybe change the color scheme because now it’s in line with the sensitivities of depressed people. Also more wealth/pleasure creating hacks..Trolls are bored.
Why not make a +1 | -1 for posts? +1 for every good post (the best comments will be elected for a sticker) and -1 for every bad comment (which eventually get reviewed and deleted if possible). It shouldnt be too hard to implement, and you wont have to miss something. Crowd-reviewing as I would call it. If the people find a troll, they can -1 that person back to where they came from…
@Stevie: great observation, the numbers poorly add up. It’s as if there’s some decent percentage of emo readers who are always here with us, but they never post great, constructive, meaningful, valuable and all around worthy comments only out of fear of being disputed harshly by ardu\h\h\h\hplatform of choice haters. And only today they’re suddenly brave to stand up for what they believe in. Ooh, I suddenly see the future.
Long time reader- first time poster.
Thankyou. This has been needed for so long.
Firstly, I’ve never just spat down someones work, I have before wondered how on earth something has made it to Hack-a-Day when it’s clearly neither a hack, nor intuitive, nor even finished. and I understand the not-a-hack comments.
Kit projects from Velleman, blinking lights using the standard source with arduinos etc just shouldn’t be on hack a day. They aren’t innovative in anyway at all.
don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here:
If you create something cool even if it only does the same as a kit, make your own boards do all the work do research write it up well then by all means you should be featured even if in the end the project is simple, because your write up is the important part, it’s that write up that’s going to help others who are learning.
On the other hand you bought a kit and soldered that together then why has it been submitted to HAD? it’s not a hack, it’s not clever, it’s not educational.
There was a post not long ago that really annoyed me, basically, the project seemed unfinished, it wasn’t technical, it was just a kit that was bought from a shop, there was also no write up just a video showing it working. The video also showed that it wasn’t really finished, or well presented. Why on earth was it put on HAD, worse is that on visiting that persons blog they had much better projects that would have surely been a better HAD features. The worst bit about it, and the reason that it annoyed me wasn’t so much that the project was unfinished or that it’s just a kit, nor written up well (as that’s happening more and more here), it’s that it was a woman who had made it. (no I’m not being sexist, I don’t think that engineering is for men only)
I couldn’t help but think it felt like a weak pat on the head because the girly had made something, saying “well done, aren’t you a big clever girl”. To be honest, that’s how I talk to my three year old daughter. It’s not how I would expect this site to be treating adults especially not professional engineers or EE students who have studied damned hard to get where they are.
To be honest, I find that FAR worse than any comment I’ve ever read here. it’s worse than comments because it’s official, it’s not just some jerk mouthing off like I am now.
It’s your staff, being paid to patronise. As was said above, substitute your own life and your own background as the author and think about if it’s still note worthy:
If it’s educational -yes: we’ve all got to learn somewhere, we all start at the beginning.
If it’s well written -yes: even if the project is simple, or textbook if the write up/presentation of the project is note worthy then it can help improve everyone else’s write ups by example!
If it’s a clever use of something -yes
If it’s innovative -yes
If it just looks really cool -yes
If it’s a really polished finish -yes
Don’t post things that are run of the mill, or kits, just because one of your old friends, or a girl, or a poor kid, or a kid from a different country made them where you think it’s amazing that they even have a soldering iron. That is just sexist, or racist, or xenophobic, and you’re right, that kind of crap shouldn’t be welcome here, not in comments, and certainly not in articles written by paid staff.
Regarding the point about grammar.
Proof read your posts, it’s not hard, and to be fair it is your job. You’re not volunteering, you’re being paid. If people are calling you out on your sloppy work then that’s a sign that you need to get better. when I’m at work if a customer tells me I need to get better, I don’t cry and tell them that I’ll delete their emails in future. I buck up my ideas and actually get better.
The other point that’s mentioned above, your actual reporting.
if you find something that’s cool, but you don’t understand it, don’t try writing about it. just tell us it’s cool and give us a link. When you get things wrong it just reeks of yet more un-professionalism. if you misreport something that shows a blatant lack of understanding then why shouldn’t this be pointed out to you?
I have posted in comments calling out other negative comments, or disagreeing with comments, and I’ve had replies to my comments. So lets dispel the myth that nobody views or responds to the comments. I’ve had, and I’ve seen (short) conversations in comments. If I’m interested by an article, I tend to read the comments, (I’ve read all the comments in this thread).
As I don’t post negative comments this is unlikely to affect me anyway, but I have submitted work before, and whilst it’s not been published I’d have appreciated the not-positive comments.
I mean if I’m submitting to HAD then I’m please with my project, I feel I’ve done it right, telling me I did it right or well done doesn’t really serve a purpose I already think I’m awesome and don’t need reminding! -Just getting featured on this site IS the huge pat on the back. I don’t need all the comments to verbally fellate me or my project.
I’d appreciate thoughts on other ways that I could have approached a problem, other ways I could have done something.
I get the feeling that’s the kind of comment that you guys are trying to keep. Constructive criticisms. So over all I really agree with what you’re saying.
The reason that I’ve written such a long post is to try to explain this simple message:
You point the finger at the people who comment, well I point it straight back at you and say you’re just as guilty. The commentators aren’t the only ones who need to shape up.
How hard is it to be nice? Remember your manners and be respectful. If someone’s wrong, and you feel the need to comment, be polite and address the issue, not the person.
Avoid random and content-free postings. Nobody cares if you’re “first”. Hackaday is only as good as the quality of its comments. The article is the main dish, the comments are the sauce and dessert!
have followed hackaday since sometime WAY BACK
i disagree..
i think somebody need to put on their big girl pants and deal with it!
we cant sensor ourselves a better world!
Do you really think your readership is growing? This will be my last visit. Competition drives everything, and while the comments provide an unvonvential source, censoring them dumbs down the whole operation even more.
I can see both sides of this argument (if you can even call it that), while I don’t entirely agree with censorship, the ‘trolls’ need to be kept at bay. There are ways and means of being negative and just being damn right nasty is not appropriate in any way, shape or form! I would say that deleting posts with the ‘where’s the Arduino?’ in-joke is a bit on the harsh side, but I do agree that people who have nothing better to do that post vile should be treated as such.
I have to say, I agree 100% but this kind of behavior isn’t just happening on this site it is happening on every site that has a comments section.
What it is, is a lack of moral turpitude. People think they can sit at their desk and just say anything they want because they are protected by anonymity. I like to call this internet cyber superhero complex. You know the complex where people sit behind their keyboards and talk like they are smarter better and tougher than anyone else who posts. I think it’s a great idea HaD and trust me hen I say there have been a few comments on this site and others that have made me want to climb through my monitor to the offensive trolls parents house and smack their parents for giving birth to such morally corrupt and offensive spawn.
So in my eyes bout time.
Thank you HaD! I hate it when I see an interesting project, or even a not so interesting project, torn apart with trash comments.
I’m also a long time reader, second post or something like that.
IMHO get rid of the comments. I like the hacks that are featured here. But I honestly never read the comments.
Why?
Because they do not interest me at all. I’m interested in the hacks, not what someone else has to say about it.
Interested readers that want to contribute go to the forum. And that could be monitored easily. And with that you keep the main page comment free :).
Good day to you HaD
I have just recently found your website (1 month ago) and cannot stop reading! In that time time I have read about 80% of the posts on this website, I am currently up to the “tools” section.
I am a 28 year-old returning to get his EE, and I never knew there was such a thing as a “Hackerspace”.
Thanks to this website and a few others, I have been re-thinking my hobby “situation” in depth.
I am a complete novice and ever so NERVOUS to post a question as simple as “hey, where should I begin? Or, what book would you guys/girls recommend?”
So being a Newbie, I’d very much appreciate those comments to stay informative and friendly.
I’ve been reading here at hackaday for a long time. I remember when we found out aol was purchasing the parent compeny, but HaD was being excluded to our rejoicing. I rarely dive into the comments. I didn’t even know it was an issue until this posting.
Long time reader, first time blahdiblah.
I remember being surprised often with how quickly commenters resorted to vulgar, base complaints about such-and-such article on Hack-a-day. While I’m not big on censorship, I also think that censorship is more of an issue when the person who is enforcing it is doing so the manipulate the conversation/argumentation flow to better their position, or when the censorship is done under the assumption that simple words and concepts are capable of severe trauma, even when used outside of aggressive context.
That being said, I think it’s pretty clear what the editors are saying here. This isn’t being done to ‘hide’ from any proposed weakness in writing capacity, or subject matter selection measure. It isn’t being done to singularly produce the “padded room” effect, where authors can only get positive feedback. It’s pretty clearly being done to measure relevancy and topical appropriateness.
Even earlier in this post, I read a comment that talked about the woman written about in this article, Jeri. While it didn’t use any specifically derogatory word choices, the affect of the post suggested that ‘she deserved the slander’, because she acted cute to the camera. A similar complaint I’ve heard (albeit in much less vulgar context) to explain away rape- ‘she dressed like a —-, so she deserved it’. Absolutely frightful. The fact that such an opinion exists is atrocious, but context-wise, ultimately inappropriate. Clearly her efforts are considered valuable, since they are considered news-worthy by the editors. Thus, her state-of-mind, and opinion of the site should be considered by administrators. Hosts have certain obligations to their guests, defined by social rules and courtesies- actions which support their guests so they might consider returning. No guest wants to return to a place when they are considered value-less, threatened, and victimized.
Return to the concept of censorship. What is an editor to do when their guests feel not only that they are not welcome, but that their presence invites trouble to follow them home? Either they let it slide, and the situation drives people from returning, or they add control to the system to allow those invited to feel safe in their company. If I were talking about a physical place, I would hope that those of you here would be in support of administrators making sure that people like Jeri didn’t feel that after coming here, that they would be stalked by sexist antagonists who were utterly irrelevant, and possibly harmful.
In short, I find the effort of this act to be in good taste, and considering the obvious deliberation of how to approach this topic, am confident that the Hack-a-Day staff will do their best to facilitate a variety of opinions.
Thank you.
just make the troll’s email address public when the comment is flagged. :D
haha.
All this talk about free speech and censorship. Neither term applies to here.
“Free speech” does not give a person the right to say anything they want whenever they want. if it was, yelling “FIRE” is a crowded theater would be OK, and would happen every day.
Your free speech means that you can send a letter to a newspaper saying whatever you want. but if they choose not to publish it is not censorship. If a paper published every letter, email, and phone call that was sent they would be at least 10 times larger and have no room for news. It is not “censorship” when they choose not to do that. It is not “censorship” when HAD decides they will not allow every comment to stay on the site.
I have read HAD for a long time, and this is only my second post. Because of the quality of the comments, i have not participated. If it improves, i may even submit a hack or two.
@ypsilon: While there are a lot of junk comments and offensive comments, there are also many intersting comments which further the details of the topic at hand. I’ve seen many instances where people include details of related research, additional videos of a hack, or other useful helful stuff. Just because some people don’t read the comments and get something useful from them, doesn’t mean that applies to all of us.
I say keep the comments, but good on HaD for this latest effort to keep them civil.
Thank You!
+1
Yay HAD! C4 under the bridge for the trolls!
People, this isn’t about censorship. It’s about being kind to your fellow hackers. Even if you don’t like a particular project, you should still encourage that person to continue trying. That person might have an amazing project next time.
Yes, there will be both good and bad criticism, but that doesn’t give you the right to be a dick about it. If you don’t like something in someone’s project, you can certainly say what you didn’t like, but also try to say how it could be better.
Wonderful news. I thoroughly enjoy hack a day, even back when it was just one a day and capital letters went to a black hole. :)
I try to comment when I enjoy a hack, or have some positive feedback. I also like to go and post a comment on the original source site if that is an option as well.
Thanks HAD. Well done.
I’m just one voice but Seriously, do not start with the up and down vote system and awards and achievement medals and live chat and whatever else freaking facebook does, hackaday is not a social site it’s a site about hacks/electronics/tech ideas and going-ons.
And I remind people that hackaday also has a regular forum separate from the comment section.
As for what this announcement means, I think we’ll just have to wait and see, and I’d say we should simply comment as normal (and not as assholes) and find out if our peculiarities are accepted, and if not then we’ll have no choice but to find a replacement site, although in the present day atmosphere I find myself, either forcefully or by personal dislike, being with less and less and less sites, most often because of inconsistent and illogical and wanton censorship or attacks by management of those places.
Great job guys! Love the site, hopefully this will make it better.
Another approach would be to allow all comments, and mark off the good ones for a “moderated” thread. Show the moderated thread by default.
That would allow anyone to post anything, and instead of getting angry when a post is deleted due to some moderator’s fancy, it will cause poster to want to get their posts moderated up to make it to the default thread.
If you guys are looking at each comment anyway, ask, which would you rather do, comment down or comment up?
Either way, this is a great improvement. I love the site, this only makes it better.
Two thumbs up!
Hack-a-day is on my daily “must visit” list. However, the vicious remarks and personal attacks I routinely see in the comments make me cringe.
There’s no reason for a private site to condone abusive behavior. No one has a “free speech right” to be evil here. And yes: I’ve seen some vicious, hateful, sexist and otherwise *evil* comments here. A private site, IMHO, has a *responsibility* to clean abusive hate speech from it’s site. You may not be able to stop haters from polluting the world with their evil, but you don’t have to host hate groups in your own home either. Likewise, HaD doesn’t have to provide abusive individuals a soapbox on their site.
I don’t expect the good folks at HaD are going to be purging comments that are criticisms or disagreements. This is about stopping abusive behavior. As reluctant as the editors have been to take this step, it is clear they appreciate the gravitas of these actions.
I’m glad to see this getting cleaned up. HaD has the potential to inspire a new generation of geeks. I think this is an important step in realizing that potential. Thanks, guys! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
I’ve been following this site since I was in elementary. And now that I am in college and did some school projects based on articles here, I really appreciate that HaD is still UP and ALIVE for that long. I hope the anti-troll-team would best in watching out for trolls. I just can’t imagine HaD closing down because of “Bad posters” tsk tsk tsk..
P.S. Keep up the good work, and keep those hacks coming!..:D
Poor Jeri.
Hey,
you are probably right, but I just have to say that in other countrys than the US the Umgangsform (the way in which you communicate) is just a bit more rude (in comparison).
In Germany if you want to do a projekt (doesn’t matter if privat or job) at first everyone will pick out all the diffcult parts and will say “what will you do about it?”
Good thing: if you can adress the said problems you are probably good to go and everything will work.
Bad thing: It often feels rude and not supported.
but you are definetly right on the sexist, not-a-hack and “arduino *whine*” comments!