OK, this is an interesting idea for combating comment spam. From what I am gathering, it looks like this star system could really have some interesting possibilities. While I am not totally sure if it could work in all environments, it looks like it has some real support behind it.

We recently launched a new feature in Blogsmith (our home grown blogging software) called the “Star System.” You can see it at work over at TVSquad.com, and the goal is simple: reward the good contributors and get rid of the spammer/freaks.

Background: Many popular bloggers have been having problems with comments on their blogs, some have even given up. Our ~75 blogs are getting hundreds—some days thousands—of comments. We’ve got the comment spam under control, but some of the spamming is now becoming very sophisticated. You’ll have someone write a reasonable response and link their name back to a poker site, or you’ll have someone post three comments under three names in order to have a dialogue with themselves about a company they are working for (we’ve busted folks doing this a number of times).

Brian and I, along with our band of bloggers, have been debating how to handle this. Should we just shut down comments and call it a day? Should we hire someone to just police the comments (too expensive)? Should we let them fall into complete chaos and just not worry about it? [Read the rest]