Some clarity: If a comment has no shares, only the person that made the comment, and the users that follow them will see the comment. A comment without shares is a comment with little to no audience. You will have the option to see all comments on your posts and all replies to your comments. The default will likely be off. Sharing propagates content across the userbase quickly. It will take very few users sharing comments from the global stream to get quality comments from unfollowed users across the site. Also, for posters that choose to see all comments on their posts, there is another opportunity for quality comments (and the users that make them) to be seen and appreciated.
Why? Why will the default be off? If I post something, it's because I want people to interact with it. What possible reason would I have for ignoring that interaction? Oh, because you want to get rid of muting. And as far as you're concerned, if someone says nasty shit about you, but you can't see it, it was never said? I know of exactly zero scenarios across the history of publishing where direct correspondence between an author and a reader is visible to other readers but invisible to the author. You're denigrating ownership entirely and you're doing it because you don't like muting. Despite the fact that it's one of the main things that keeps this site together. I know you hate that? But giving people an option to not deal with contentiousness gives them the courage to post. It's clear you're going to do this. It's clear you REALLY REALLY think this is going to fix something. So try this: - By default, comments with zero shares are invisible TO EVERYONE except the poster, the commenter and anyone who follows the commenter. - PER POST, posters can "open" a post to visibility by everyone so that Pubski, the weekly music thread, grubski, craft threads, whatever become an invitation to new people and people without a lot of followers can get visibility. There is no reason whatsoever to think that the solution to Hubski's woes can be found by proliferating shit in here:The default will likely be off.
