Real humans viewing comments is probably one of the most important things. HN has good moderation when things get personal. (I am admittedly the recipient of on

Real humans viewing comments is probably one of the most important things. HN has good moderation when things get personal. (I am admittedly the recipient of one of these moderations) HN tends to keep things professional - but can dip into the "you have no idea what you're talking about" territory at times. The problem is, we're all know-it-alls on the internet. We have a wealth of information at our fingertips. We often pretend like we were on the teams that made some sort of scientific discovery. What I see happening in other communities (I'll take Reddit and Townhall.com as examples) is that people get into like-minded echo chambers where they feel comfortable. Anyone appealing to reason in either of those communities is downvoted if they make a suggestion, ask a question, or simply refuse to tow the "party line". (I say that without politics in mind, but politics DEFINITELY factor into it) People as a general species, WANT to be liked. Because of this desire, we'll often adopt the viewpoints of our surrounding community. We'll pick on those who are different because we perceive that they're "morons" for not agreeing with the "party line". It's very hard for any sort of algorithm to solve that problem. The best we can hope for, is an even-handed moderator to say, "this person may not agree with my own personal feelings on a matter, but their voice is just as valuable to the conversation".