Tragic Design

Our job is to think about this when we design our products. Here are some good questions to get us most of the way there. They should be asked when designing any new or enhanced feature: How might people abuse this feature to hurt others? If this feature is being used for abuse, how can a user take action against it? Is the banning system top down or bottom up? If it’s top down, can it scale? What are the consequences of someone abusing others? What do they have to lose? If we add more safeguards, do they distract or discourage interaction from the rest of the users? If so, is there a way to do so without distraction? Are there any incentives for someone to abuse?