The hierarchy of Internet commenting continues to prove worthwhile and reinforce my point.
From Boy Genius Report, which pointed to DownloadSquad, which blogwhored back to the original source, StupidFilter will be an open source filter package for comments, based on YouTube stupidity:
The solution we’re creating is simple: an open-source filter software that can detect rampant stupidity in written English. This will be accomplished with weighted Bayesian analysis and some rules-based processing, similar to spam detection engines. The primary challenge inherent in our task is that stupidity is not a binary distinction, but rather a matter of degree. To this end, we’re collecting a ranked corpus of stupid text, gleaned from user comments on public websites and ranked on a five-point scale.
The site also refers to Eternal September, which is the September that AOL users first accessed newsgroups and ruined the discussion boards for everyone else. I’m still not entirely sure where most non-technical newsgroups would fit inside the hierarchy.
In the meantime, the StupidFilter project has a random stupidity page, where you can view examples of YouTube comments. (Personally, I think all the ones I’ve seen have ranked too low – the project should have a 1-10 scale instead of a 1-5 to allow more of a granular level of stupidity.)
Also, check out their FAQ page, where I found this bit of hilarity for my morning, emphasis mine:
Keep in mind we grade stupidity on a scale of 1 to 5. Someone might get a 1 or 2 for a comment that used no punctuation, whereas a comment consisting of nothing but text message abbreviations with a dash of LOLLLLL thrown in for good measure would probably rate a solid 4 or 5. There is a certain amount of subjectivity, and our software is aware of that; scoring will be normalized to eliminate excessively generous or harsh estimations of stupidity.