Should you sacrifice the end user experience to fight against spam?

Question

Stack Exchange doesn't allow you to comment on questions unless you have 50 reputation points. How do you earn those? By asking questions. So basically the website is inadvertently soliciting for people who have more to ask than to share. And the end user has also been given the task to be patient until those 50 reputation points are earned.

Is this fighting against spam or is this surrendering to spam? If you are going to sacrifice the end user experience this much and by default presume all new users are spam risks and they should be silenced until they prove otherwise then you aren't really customer oriented and not interested in growing your community.

Do you think this is a smart way of doing things? Any better ideas?

Answer 1

Stack Exchange doesn't allow you to comment on questions unless you have 50 reputation points. How do you earn those? By asking questions.

^{(my emphasis)}

You get points by asking questions or answering them¹. If you've got something to share, you can – and are actively encouraged – to do so. But that sharing should focus on questions and answers, not comments.

What you have to remember (or realise) about the StackExchange sites is that unlike many other websites, they aren't "forums" or "message boards" where someone posts something (hopefully) interesting and all-and-sundry chip in with their views. Instead, its "heart and sole" is to be a collection of questions and answers that (a) hopefully help the original asker, but (b) almost more importantly will help others in the future.

Personally, I'm not sure whether 50 is the right limit, but – as I understand it – one of the main reasons for their being a limit is to stop new users arriving here in "message-board mode" and flooding questions with comments. Once they've been here a bit and "learnt the ropes", then they get the ability to comment.

The two main downsides to the limit is that (a) some people are dissuaded from hanging around long-enough to get the initial 50 points (although it's not too onerous a task), and (b) people post comments as answers (and then get even more dissuaded because of the backlash that follows).

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¹ There are other ways to earn points, such as by editing, but asking and answering are probably the main ones.

Answer 2

Stack Exchange sites, including ours, are different than most public forums. We are strictly a Question-and-Answer site. And every new user, no matter what his or her reputation level, is allowed to post both questions and answers.

The site explicitly discourages chit-chat and discussion. Posting comments on other people's posts is a privilege that is reserved for users that have been around for a little while and who we trust have learned how to use the site.

Yes, not allowing new users to comment does completely prevent spam in the comments, but it also helps to reduce the amount of unhelpful comments that the site deals with.

The reputation bar for commenting is set fairly low. I see that you have not yet earned any reputation on any Stack Exchange site, but that is simply because you have yet to make any question or answer posts. If you have something useful to share that answers a question, post it as an answer. If it is helpful, it will get upvotes. And 5 upvotes on your answers is all you need to gain the privilege of adding comments to other users' posts.

Answer 3

Stack Exchange doesn't allow you to comment on questions unless you have 50 reputation points. How do you earn those? By asking questions. So basically the website is inadvertently soliciting for people who have more to ask than to share.

Being fairly new here, I don't know how to use this site very well. Not that I care but I racked up 6,000+ points despite that and I have only asked a total of ONE QUESTION. Sharers get to play in the sandbox too!

Answer 4

Rep can be gained from answering questions, which is what most members are doing here.

StackExchange is not the traditional message board you might be used to. It's not a 'discussion' board. The back and forth of comments is a distraction, and actually meant to ask a clarifying question or point out a factual error.

I highly recommend you take the tour and see if SE, and specifically MSE, are going to be of interest to you.

Your profile shows "bitcoin enthusiast" and you are a member of BSE, which is great. But you haven't asked or answered one question on any of the six stacks where you are a member.

We appreciate your concern about spam, and think the current system works pretty well.