Notice that even though the comment is collapsed, it can be expanded if desired to show the original comment text. We hope that these new features, and increased attention to member reports, will help take the edge off of the most heated exchanges on the site.

Let's also take a look at the rating aspects of the site:

-Propping (voting a story up): Props are a crucial factor on the site--they help in calculating what stories are popular. An article should only be propped after it is read and felt to be particularly newsworthy (or at the very least, funny or quirky). Members should not engage in blind propping (propping a story without reading it) for any reason. Do not prop a story just because you like the submitter, or the author. Doing so leads to behavior indistinguishable from sock puppeting, which is forbidden by the Terms of Use (available here).

-Dropping (voting a story down): Drops are also critical on Propeller, as they help to separate the wheat from the chaff. An article should be dropped if it is pointless, not factual (with the obvious exception of satire, when submitted to the Humor category) or in general, when it is not newsworthy. Just as with propping, members should not engage in blind dropping (dropping a story without reading it) for any reason. An article should not be dropped because the member doesn't agree with the point of view of the author.

-Comment Rating: On Propeller a member can rate a comment up or down. Up rating is meant for comments that are informative, funny, poignant. The top rated comments appear on the home page under "What People Are Saying" and the Propeller Facebook application, so please, take the time to give kudos when deserved. Down rating is meant for comments that are unnecessarily argumentative, irrelevant, or contain ad hominem attacks. We have seen too many comments in this vein go unmoderated. We hope the use of down rating in conjunction with the comment collapsing feature will short circuit comment thread meltdown--however, we need everyone's help to make this happen.

Also to remember: there is no shame in reading an article or a comment without rating it afterwards. The rating system is designed to promote the best of the best--on a given day, you might read 50 stories on Propeller and decide to Prop just a few.

-Reporting: Stories, comments and members can be reported using the "Report" button on a story detail page, the "!" button on the top right of a comment, and the "Report" link on the top right of a member's profile page. Stories should be reported if they clearly violate the Terms of Use, be they spam or containing exceedingly objectionable content. Comments should be reported if they are excessively abusive, profane or spammy. Members should be reported if they are using their account primarily for abuse, spam or objectionable content. To all those members who have been faithfully reporting stories, comments and members, we thank you, and encourage you to continue. To other active members, please use the report feature instead of fanning the flames--we will all benefit from this.

Thanks for listening. I hope that these changes, with the community's help, will help improve everyone's Propeller experience.

Tom