twitter / twitter/communitynotes

Improve Community Notes Blocking Mechanism to Avoid Restricting Good-Faith Contributors

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Dominant language
Python
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Description

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I'm frustrated by the current Community Notes blocking mechanism, which can restrict good-faith contributors based on a single rejected note. In my case, I was blocked despite having no history of misuse, likely due to downvotes driven by followers within an echo chamber.

This approach discourages genuine contributions and limits viewpoint diversity in Community Notes. For example, as it stands, I would avoid writing a note against an author who has a large community of followers sharing similar views, as this could risk my account being blocked.

Describe the solution you'd like
To address bias in voting:

  1. Define Significant Bias: A user (voter) who has shown favoritism (following, liking, or re-posting) towards the author or the post.

  2. Bias Handling:

    • Votes from users with a significant bias should apply only to the post itself and not count towards blocking a Community Notes contributor. Neutral voters’ feedback should weigh more in blocking decisions.
    • Alternatively, restrict users with significant bias from voting on Community Notes entirely, allowing votes only from users neutral towards the author.

To address the blocking mechanism:

  1. Warnings/Cooldowns: Use warnings or temporary cooldowns instead of immediate blocks.
  2. Pattern-Based Restrictions: Evaluate contributor behavior over time rather than blocking based on a single note.

Describe alternatives you've considered

  • Allowing an appeal or review process for blocks based on single rejected notes.
  • Implementing a reputation-based system where contributors with a strong record are less likely to be blocked over isolated incidents.

Additional context
This blocking mechanism may inadvertently discourage valuable contributions and reduce the diversity of perspectives in Community Notes. This impacts the platform’s overall quality and balance by silencing users who provide balanced critiques on posts within echo chambers.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No files, tests, or entry points are identified. Start by locating the Community Notes voting and blocking logic, then clarify which bias, cooldown, pattern-based restriction, appeal, or reputation policy is intended before defining tests and completion criteria.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
backend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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