Gaming theory to the rescue... (Score 1)

Human beings are social primates. Being aware that the nature of said beasts include the occasional handful of flung feces, it should be possible to identify what people use this environment to achieve. Typical drive include the sharing of ideas. The garnering of social capital for intelligence and wit. And yes, some people use the internet as a toilet the same way some Cretans enjoy passing gas in a crowded room.

So How do you get the benefits of an exchange of ideas and our combined intelligence, while at the same time keeping the ass-hats on a short leash? Sounds like a job for game theory? Yes? Set up a comment ranking system (Hmmmm where have I seen that before?) and make the Troglodytes live in the lowest subterranean depths, findable only by folks who are in want of the kind of entertainment that only serial brain-farts can provide. Elevate the best and brightest commentators to the height and revel in the brilliant things they have to say.

In fact as we begin to build better and better natural language engines and software capable of accurately parsing human conversation, it could be a lucrative service to build a system that accurately ranks comments for intelligence, humor, style, and all around quality. Of course, context will be important. Someone commenting on the waste that is religion might, get a plus point on an athiest's blog, and negative 10 points on a religious blog. Perhaps until the advent of AI, we'll need automated ranking with possible human follow up in disputed cases.