Community Notes

If you are a user of X, the app formerly known as Twitter, then you are probably aware of a feature called community notes. It’s Elon Musk’s answer to the content on it’s platform that may be misleading and/or lack context. Unlike Facebook, which uses so-called independent fact-checkers, Community Notes uses the X community to take on that role. But not every Tom, Dick, and Harry can just C-note (community note) someone. You have to be invited, and the members are anonymous to even each other. Those that create Community Notes then have them rated before they are shown to the rest of the X user base.

Abuse of Community Notes

As a member myself, I have noticed that some members have less than honorable intentions. They make frivolous notes on the content of certain individuals, regardless of what those individuals post. The other members then waste time rating these unhelpful notes that do nothing but take up space. I will not mention the names of the individuals, but I am sure you can guess who at least one of them is. It would be one thing to C-note one of these individuals for posting some factually incorrect information, but it’s quite another to C-note them for re-posting a meme or expressing a personal opinion.

Not Intended for Political Agendas

The intent of community notes is not to promote personal vendettas or political agendas or to hide behind C-notes as a troll. I may personally dislike certain individuals on X, but I certainly don’t need to hide behind a wall of anonymity to criticize them or discredit them. I am more than willing to openly do so for all the world to see. To do anything less is dishonest, disgraceful, and, in my opinion, cowardly. I personally dislike flat-earthers and young Earth creationists. But I don’t try to C-note them into oblivion; I don’t think the majority of people take them seriously anyway.  If you happen to be one of those dishonest members, grow up and use your public profile for your soapbox; that’s what it’s there for.

The Solution

One of my former drill sergeants once said, “A complaint without a solution is called whining.”

I happen to agree with my former drill sergeant, so here are some modest solutions to the problem:

• Three strikes, and you’re out. If a member posts three frivolous notes, they lose their C-note membership
• Each frivolous note created is removed from the system or detached from the post that it was created for
• Strikes can be appealed to by submitting an appeal to the C-note community
• Once you’re out, you’re out for good
• A negative rating of a frivolous note does not produce a strike on the rater

Some people might consider my proposed solutions to be anti-free speech, but they would be wrong. The first thing everyone needs to realize is that only the government can violate free speech in the legal sense. There is no legal remedy against corporations or private individuals who might violate another’s free speech. The government stacks the deck in its favor, so there’s that.

A person has the right to express their own opinions in an open forum like X. But not in a closed forum whose purpose is to fact-check and provide context to those opinions while preserving free speech. There is no room for opinion or political agenda in such a forum, and it needs to stay objective and apolitical. Such things are what comments and personal posts are for. There is no right to abuse a system put in place for a specific purpose.