I am sure most of you are well aware of racism, cursing, and other forms of obscenities that usually float around in Sajha threads. This is not something new and it is also sporadic.
I talked to the Admin regarding the issue on Sajha Shout Box. If you haven't already noticed, SAN has come up with a system where you can rate a particular post. I don't know how that rating exactly works or how it benefits from keeping Sajha 'clean.' I know many Sajhaites are sick of some of the threads. I have been a regular viewer of Sajha for three years now and it is not only my observation but older members confess that the quality of the threads is decreasing.
Amidst all the propaganda, it would be nice to see if we could regulate the content of sajha. Now, now I know some of you are gasping there when I say 'regulate.' But yes, I was one of the few people who thought that sajha should be left to the public. It is a microcosm of the real world and if we can curse, slander, and blame in real life, why can't we do it in the web. Isn't that the whole point of democracy and freedom of speech?
Well, after three years I realize that freedom of speech should also come with a string. We should not just watch when someone puts a picture of their so-called girlfriend, or when someone says there is an earthquake in Kathmandu, or when a person starts creating trouble in the name of Caste.
With my talk to the Admin, he was correct in the sense that these sorts of threads come and go. But without regulation, they come too often than not. We should let people know that certain things will not be tolerated even in a public forum, e.g. racism.
I am proposing a simple automated system that might help keep Sajha from slipping into anarchy.
Proposed system:Any thread or a comment that is posted should have some kind of approve/disapprove mechanism. (YouTube has a similar system with a thumbs up/down in their video comments.) What I mean by this is that there can be a (Approve/Disapprove) button on top of any comment and a user can disapprove a comment that they think is inappropriate/misleading/obscene etc. Similarly, they can approve if they think it is appropriate.
Only one approval or disapproval can be allowed per IP address & Username. That will prevent a person from creating a ton of Usernames and rate too many times. It will also prevent one user from voting multiple times.Then, the system compares the number of approval and disapproval and if there is much greater disapproval (say 60 percent compared to approval) then that particular thread gets either deleted from Sajha or is not shown in the homepage. Also, if it is a particular comment inside a thread, then the comment can get deleted but the thread will still remain.How do we decide when exactly is a comment/thread deleted? Well one thought is to have at least 50 people vote and then do the comparison. Another way to do it would be to have a certain number of views (say 200) and compare the approval vs. disapproval. I think this is one democratic approach to curb down on some of the malicious threads that poison Sajha every now and then. And if anyone agrees to such a system, then leave a word. If you disagree, please say why and what we should do then. If you have another system that you think is better, do not hesitate to propose. Lets all help make Sajha a place where we can come together as Nepali and build a community rather than shatter the one we have right now.
Lastly, I hope the administrator will have something to say regarding this matter.Peace.
