Reality Drop: Crowdsourced Spam

Just to be clear, I want to see a more scientifically literate America. I want the conservative movement in general and the Republican party in particular to drop science denial as official policy. And I definitely want to see America lead the world in dealing with the threat of anthropogenic global warming. Because of those feelings, I have to applaud Reality Drop's goal of combating science denialism through better communication, but I can't commend their method.
Reality Drop

Reality Drop is a tool for commenting on news websites. It links stories about AGW in card-like units. Each story is marked as "Reality" or "Myth", and each one gives you a choice to "Destroy Denial" or "Spread Truth". In other words, for a "Reality" story, you can follow the link and post supporting information. For a "Myth" story, you can post corrective information.

So far, so good.


When you click on a card to Destroy Denial or Spread Truth, you're presented with a premade comment that includes a link back to Reality Drop. This is where things get iffy. On big sites with high message traffic, you don't really notice the Reality Drop posts. But on lower traffic sites, you quickly notice all the similar links.

Flooding a message board with links to one site is a form of spamming. Bad Reality Drop! No, no, no!

What's worse is that Reality Drop pays its participants with points and law enforcement titles. I realize that might not sound like a bad idea to socially networky people. Getting even virtual recognition for your participation in an online community feels good. Points and badges and such help establish you as an active, long-time participant, so you can pull rank on the noobies.

But paying participants in points means that some of your participants are participating just for points. In other words, they're not just spamming, they're spamming with a cold stare and a determined expression.

Is this really the best way we can come up with to promote reason and scientific inquiry? Is it really any different from any other form of paid posting? Are we really going to replace people who argue the pro-science cause because they think it's important with people who are only posting because they're just a few points away from "Captain"?

Some of us have been tangling with deniers online for a long time, and we always love to see new voices join the conversation.  But we don't love cookie cutter posts and link spam, even if it's on our side, and that's what Reality Drop seems likely to deliver.

I could be wrong. If the Reality Droppers keep their standards high, and at least some of their posters seem to be taking that approach, their contribution to the pro-science side could be all good. I doubt this project will change the mind of a single denier, but it might help inform those who simply don't know enough about the issue, which will help dilute the deniers' voices. Reality Drop might end up being a positive factor in the long-term survivability of America as a technological nation.

I'm calling it a spam factory for now, but I'd love to be proved wrong.