On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:09:20 -0800 (PST), "Sal M. Onella"
wrote:

Remember, I offered a Swell Prize for anybody who produced an
algorithm to predict when a thread was going to turn ugly -- or at
least go goofy. It hasn't been claimed. Art?

Easy. Create a list of the most frequent posters. Include the number
of postings they create per month, and the number of original lines of
text they add each month (don't include quotes and blank lines).
Select the top 3 posters, that have the smallest ratio of postings to
new content. These are the ones that traditionally change the topic
with one or two line inflamatory remarks. When they appear, the
thread is sure to go awry.

Also create a list of first time posters, who do NOT start a thread,
but only comment on it. These are guaranteed topic drift candidates
as long time posters directly attack the new poster, rather than his
comments.

A 3rd class of posters are those that supply pure opinions, without
any substantiation, examples, or anecdotes. Any thread that starts
out this way, will invariably include an example demonstrating that
the original allegations are wrong. It's at this point, that the
thread will go off into the minutae of the example, drifting away from
the original opinions.

Please send my prize to the address below.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558