The document discusses four "scary ideas" for social software: 1. Radically lowering the bar for participation by removing registration requirements. 2. Trusting some users by allowing all users to edit content and prioritizing information value over author credibility. 3. Embracing the game-like aspects of professions by viewing life as a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). 4. Accepting that bad things will sometimes happen and ensuring the community can deal with issues as they arise.

5. “How will this software get my
users laid” should be on the
minds of anyone writing social
software (and these days, all
software is.)

6. “Social software” is about
making it easy for people to do
things with each other:
meeting, conversing, sharing,
collaborating.

7. A
n
n
o
y
i
n
g
n
e
s
s
Freedom

8. • Identity
• Presence
• Relationships
• Reputation
• Conversations
• Groups
• Sharing

9. • Identity
• Presence
• Relationships
• Reputation
• Conversations
• Groups
• Sharing

18. Scary Idea #1
Radically lower the bar for
participation
No registration.
None. Nada. Zilch.

20. The Tragedy of the Commons

21. everyone’s
attention

22. Fred Rescues the Neighborhood Squirrels
Views
5,348,838
Comments
48,710

23. Optical Effects of Special Relativity
Views
45,866
Comments
153

24. Scary Idea #2
Trusting (some of) your users
What if everyone could edit
everything?

27. Oil
The value of the
information is more
important than the
individual authors.
Water
Information from
credible authors is more
reliable.

44. Channel Rules
1. No whining
2. No colours or other formatting, especially in
automated scripts.
3. Do not paste code (or anything) on the channel.
4. If you feel you have been unfairly treated, abused or
just aren't getting your money's worth ($0), see Rule
#1.

49. Scary Idea #3
Life is the world’s biggest
MMORPG
What if you embraced the game-
like aspects of your profession?

57. Slashdot

59. How Moderation Happens

60. “A soldier will fight long and hard for a
bit of colored ribbon.”

61. “Even though points on
Consumating were redeemable for
absolutely nothing, not even a gold
star, our members had an
unquenchable desire for them.”

67. Scary Idea #4
Bad stuff happens
It’s OK for bad things to happen
as long as the community has
ways of dealing with them.

69. “So, Lone Starr, now you see
that evil will always triumph,
because good is dumb.”

70. Don’t be dumb.

74. 3138 Edits
1574 Users
Ave: 1.99

80. Linux
“I'm doing a (free) operating
system (just a hobby) [...] I'd
like to know what features
most people would want.”
Wikipedia
“Humor me. Go there and add a
little article. It will take all of five
or ten minutes.”

81. 1. Radically lower the bar
for participation
2. Trusting (some of) your
users
3. Life is the world’s biggest
MMORPG
4. Bad stuff happens