A Bot That Identifies 'Toxic' Comments Online
A Google-funded algorithm flags messages that are likely to drive others away from a conversation.
Civil conversation in the comment sections of news sites can be hard to come by these days. Whatever intelligent observations do lurk there are often drowned out by obscenities, ad-hominem attacks, and off-topic rants. Some sites, like the one you’re reading, hide the comments section behind a link at the bottom of each article; many others have abolished theirs completely.
One of the few beacons of hope in where some articles are accompanied by a stream of respectful, largely thoughtful ideas from readers. But the powers its comment section with an engine few other news organizations can afford: a team of human moderators that checks nearly every single comment before it gets published.
