Joe Mandese asked Gawker's Nick Denton if he saw any content farming in his future, but Denton doesn't seem likely to don overalls anytime soon.
"The crowd is a great source of talent; I don't
think the crowd is talent ... it's a great place to source talent, but I wouldn't trust our brands to a crowd that hasn't been quality control."
Comments though, do direct Gawker's content
(and some notable Gawker writer have been hired because of their commenting). "We are obsessed by comments," says Denton. "70% to 80% of our tech work is improving our comment system."
to keep
out "trolls" the moderation of comments is left to the quality commenters in a way. When a new person comments, their thoughts are only visible to a select group of designated "star" commenters, says
Denton. Once the "stars" reply the comments become visible to everyone.