> to boot Change that to "aboot" (Canadian), and you have an instant solution. (Those infallibly polite Canadians... ;-) In that "long ago and far away" that

> to boot Change that to "aboot" (Canadian), and you have an instant solution. (Those infallibly polite Canadians... ;-) In that "long ago and far away" that I obliquely mentioned, I rescued a drowning owner/moderator. Then promptly, politely twisted the arms of 3 or 4 other long term members with whom I'd established personal relationships, to become co-moderators. Set up an out-of-band channel for conversation (with a default record, for reference) amongst the same. And broke the single forum into about five sub-forums that addressed the predominant, general trends of interest of existing conversations. We also had to start clamping down on the "everyone is welcome" attitude that we had tried very hard to foster, promulgate, and shepherd. Some people simply are not present in the community for the sake of the community, and/or are so disruptive or toxic that the only solution -- especially given the limited resources of volunteer moderators and the limited patience and attention of the majority of the audience -- is to toss them. If you think you are a softie, you should see the kind nature of many -- the majority -- of people who inhabited this community. Nonetheless, past a point, hugs just couldn't cut it. And when that was recognized and... respected (as opposed to "enforced", as a motivating attitude), the mood of the place actually improved and people could once again feel a bit more trustful and express a bit more care. The environment was also, even more so, self-selecting. And it benefited from an enduring lack of mainstream publicity. (Its few "breakouts" actually became crisis points to manage.) With any community, eventually you have to draw boundaries. And break the whole into manageable pieces. As you mention, whatever the technology, ultimately you are up against the limits of human cognizance. A community needs enough structure to keep and present "human-scale" pieces, contexts, scopes. Whether those structures are static or dynamic may be a question that's currently being addressed and experimented upon, on-line. As for HN, we'll have to see what pg and crew adopt in their ongoing approach to this.