Interesting podcast but… a bit academic and perhaps somewhat over generalized into pure philosophy versus actionable advice. I suggest reading these blog posts if you want proof that I have been thinking about this stuff:
https://blog.codinghorror.com/designing-for-evil/
https://blog.codinghorror.com/your-community-door/
https://blog.codinghorror.com/they-have-to-be-monsters/
There are about 6-12 more I could link you to but I think this is enough to start with. The narrative here is intentional:
- there is evil
- that evil is often other people
- therefore build a door and know when and how to close it as needed
(For extra special bonus points, recognize that YOU are going to be the evil in some scenarios. Yes, you. Me. All of us.)
The above is, in a nutshell, why Discourse exists. Discourse is a spear aimed directly at the heart of Facebook. I don’t often talk about it that way in public, but that’s the truth and that is the long, long term view over several decades: Discourse is the anti-Facebook.
The general design principles reflected in Discourse are:
- above all else encourage (and measure) reading and listening
- provide excellent one click tools and guidance for dealing with trolls, spammers, and bad faith participants
- nudge people to remember their better selves “just in time” at the exact time of temptation
- prevent communities from degenerating over time; build sustainable communities that grow and survive for decades
https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-just-in-time-theory/
https://blog.codinghorror.com/training-your-users/
https://blog.codinghorror.com/can-software-make-you-less-racist/
https://blog.codinghorror.com/level-one-the-intro-stage/
A concrete example of these sorts of nudges in 1.7 and 1.8, a) we added the “get a room” reminder when people respond to the same person over and over in the same topic, and b) we send an encouraging email and award a special badge for two newly arrived users every month whose posts are well-received by the existing community.
As for notifications, the latest work from Dan Ariely says businesses would be well served by batching emails into three periods in the day rather than letting notifications interrupt you all day: morning, after lunch, and end of day.