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The moderation will be challenging, but I have a few ideas: * require an email id during registration with confirmation * add a reputation system for user pro

The moderation will be challenging, but I have a few ideas: * require an email id during registration with confirmation * add a reputation system for user profiles. Mods can "upvote" certain profiles that contribute in good faith * use the reputation system as a basis for community moderation. Users above a certain karma can flag chat messages and/or user accounts. * Allow banning of IP addresses. This was suggested by another user on reddit, but not sure how effective it is. Regarding the product itself, I took a look at the current offerings in the "add chat to your website" category and they all * have a terrible UX and look completely out of place when placed on a website * not customisable * are not targeted at businesses I plan to allow the use of custom templates to allow the chat to fit into the overall website it's used on. My theory is that businesses and even people with personal blogs will find it valuable.

smt88 9y ago
A lot of these tactics will reduce bad messages by some percentage, but none are 100% effective. Facebook likely has the state-of-the-art moderation infrastructure, and they're still plagued by moderation issues. They don't even have to moderate in real time! Now imagine that you're not just removing people for trolling. You're also removing them for: - mentioning rival businesses - saying bad things about the business - talking about the special price they received from the business - sharing private coupon codes Even one of these messages could cost the business money. Imagine a screenshot of a business's website with a chatter posting about pedophilia. No business would allow their brand to be positioned next to unfiltered comments like that. It's an enormously complex (and currently unsolved) problem. You'd have to get better at it than Facebook currently is. And even as a solved problem, I don't really perceive a benefit for the business. As a user, I've never wanted to chat with other visitors to any website. It certainly wouldn't help me purchase a product. If I see that a business has pushed some of its customer service duties to forums, I take that as a red flag and try to find a better product elsewhere. Maybe I'm an absolute minority, though. YMMV.
- ploggingdev 9y ago
  >> Now imagine that you're not just removing people for trolling. You're also removing them for: - mentioning rival businesses - saying bad things about the business - talking about the special price they received from the business - sharing private coupon codes There are no silver bullets to solve the problem of moderating chat messages, but guidelines stating all of the above are not allowed and that users who violate these guidelines will be banned, is a start. As an example of moderation+guidelines working, HN is a decent example. Things like hate speech, attacking people belonging to certain religions still happen once in a while here as well. Since the mods are active and ban such users, trolls are kept under control. > Imagine a screenshot of a business's website with a chatter posting about pedophilia. Theoretically possible, just like how a user can post the same message in comments sections or forums and capture a screenshot even if chat was not present. It really sounds more of a sitcom type problem and even if it does happen and someone captures a screenshot, people surely won't take trolls seriously. When was the last time something like this happened? Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

smt88 9y ago

A lot of these tactics will reduce bad messages by some percentage, but none are 100% effective. Facebook likely has the state-of-the-art moderation infrastructure, and they're still plagued by moderation issues. They don't even have to moderate in real time! Now imagine that you're not just removing people for trolling. You're also removing them for: - mentioning rival businesses - saying bad things about the business - talking about the special price they received from the business - sharing private coupon codes Even one of these messages could cost the business money. Imagine a screenshot of a business's website with a chatter posting about pedophilia. No business would allow their brand to be positioned next to unfiltered comments like that. It's an enormously complex (and currently unsolved) problem. You'd have to get better at it than Facebook currently is. And even as a solved problem, I don't really perceive a benefit for the business. As a user, I've never wanted to chat with other visitors to any website. It certainly wouldn't help me purchase a product. If I see that a business has pushed some of its customer service duties to forums, I take that as a red flag and try to find a better product elsewhere. Maybe I'm an absolute minority, though. YMMV.

ploggingdev 9y ago
>> Now imagine that you're not just removing people for trolling. You're also removing them for: - mentioning rival businesses - saying bad things about the business - talking about the special price they received from the business - sharing private coupon codes There are no silver bullets to solve the problem of moderating chat messages, but guidelines stating all of the above are not allowed and that users who violate these guidelines will be banned, is a start. As an example of moderation+guidelines working, HN is a decent example. Things like hate speech, attacking people belonging to certain religions still happen once in a while here as well. Since the mods are active and ban such users, trolls are kept under control. > Imagine a screenshot of a business's website with a chatter posting about pedophilia. Theoretically possible, just like how a user can post the same message in comments sections or forums and capture a screenshot even if chat was not present. It really sounds more of a sitcom type problem and even if it does happen and someone captures a screenshot, people surely won't take trolls seriously. When was the last time something like this happened? Anyway, thanks for the feedback.