You are assessing comments under news articles. For each one you decide with a single letter. You are not judging whether you agree with the comment, whether it's stupid, or whether you like it. You are judging how offensive it is, and you leave the decision about where the line sits to the newsroom.
Five answers and one switch
| Letter |
Meaning |
When |
| U |
insult, hatred, threat |
Any moderator would remove or hide it. |
| H |
rude, but stays |
It's insulting or biting, but ordinary discussion tolerates it; a strict newsroom might delete it, a lenient one leaves it. Example: "Ovcím se to prý líbí." ("Sheep are said to like it.") |
| C |
clean |
Nothing insulting, even if it's stupid, unpleasant, or you disagree. |
| ? |
cannot decide |
Cannot be judged without knowing the article or previous comments. Use sparingly, at most one in twenty. |
| X |
invalid line |
Cut-off text, foreign language, unreadable. Doesn't count toward the set. |
| N |
untruth (switch) |
Added to U, H or C: the comment contains a claim an ordinary reader knows is false (flat Earth, chips in vaccines, "the election was cancelled"). Not an opinion you disagree with, not a guess, not exaggeration. Doesn't determine removal; it feeds an advisory signal. |
The line between U and H: U is what every moderator would remove. If you can picture a newsroom that would leave it, it's H.
Decide quickly, on the first impression of an informed reader. On average 5 to 10 seconds per comment. Don't look up context online.
What counts as U
- An insult aimed at a specific person: another commenter, the article's author, someone in the article, anyone named. "Ty debile" ("You idiot"), "autor je idiot" ("the author is an idiot"), "ta ženská je kráva" ("that woman is a cow").
- Vulgarity directed at someone: "jdi do prdele" ("go fuck yourself"), "kokot", "čurák" (crude insults) addressed to a person or group.
- Hatred toward a group based on nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, orientation, or disability: "cikáni ať táhnou" ("gypsies should get out"), "všichni muslimové jsou…" ("all Muslims are…"), "buzeranti" (a slur for gay men).
- A threat or call for violence, even figurative: "do plynu s nimi" ("into the gas with them"), "kulku do hlavy" ("a bullet in the head"), "pověsit je" ("hang them"), "na Sibiř" ("off to Siberia"), "postřílet" ("shoot them").
- A wish for death or harm: "ať chcípne" ("hope he croaks"), "snad ho přejede auto" ("hope a car runs him over").
- Sexual harassment or gender-based degradation.
- An insult hidden behind a name from a news story: "jsi jako ta Nováková" ("you're just like that Nováková"), where Nováková is a woman accused of murder. If the comparison clearly serves to degrade, it's U.
What counts as H
- Mockery of one side of a political dispute: "ovce"/"ovčani" ("sheep", i.e. mindless followers), "dezoláti" ("deplorables"), "sluníčkáři" ("bleeding hearts"), "lepšolidé" ("do-gooders"), "pražská kavárna" ("the Prague café set"). It's an insult ("you have no mind of your own"), not irony, and the discussion tolerates it.
- Biting sarcasm toward a commenter without vulgarity: "ty jsi ale chytrej" ("aren't you clever"), "přečti si to ještě jednou, pomalu" ("read it again, slowly").
- Crude ridicule of a public figure: "Fiala je nula" ("Fiala is a zero"), "Babiš, ten cirkusák" ("Babiš, that circus clown").
- Vulgarity with no addressee, out of frustration: "to je ale sračka" ("what a piece of shit").
What counts as C, even when it doesn't look like it
- Criticism of a politician or public figure: "Babiš zase lže" ("Babiš is lying again"), "Fiala je neschopný" ("Fiala is incompetent"), "Bureš krade" ("Bureš is stealing"). Public figures must tolerate more than private ones. A mocking nickname on its own is H at most.
- A quoted insult: "napsal mi 'ty debile' a to je podle mě za hranou" ("he wrote 'you idiot' to me and I think that's over the line"). A quotation is not an insult.
- Irony with no addressee: "no to se povedlo, vládo" ("well done, government" — sarcastic). When irony targets a person, it's H; when it conceals hatred toward a group, it's U.
- A harsh political opinion: "Rusko je agresor, bez debat" ("Russia is the aggressor, no debate"), "tahle vláda zničí zemi" ("this government will ruin the country"). An opinion is not a rule violation.
- Criticism you disagree with. Your own beliefs play no role.
- Slovak: assess it the same way as Czech.
Borderline cases
- Group vs. individual: "politici jsou zloději" ("politicians are thieves") is C; "Romové jsou zloději" ("Roma are thieves") is U. The difference is a protected group (ethnicity, nationality, faith, gender, orientation, disability) versus a profession or opinion-based group.
- Animal comparisons: "ovce" ("sheep"), "slepice" ("hens") about a group of people with no protected characteristic is H; about an ethnicity, U.
- The call "ať táhnou domů" ("let them go home"): about migrants, Roma, or foreigners is U; about a political party is C.
- Cursing yourself or fate: "jsem blbec, že jsem to koupil" ("I'm an idiot for buying that") is C.
- A figurative expression of frustration is not a call to action: "jen je vyhnat lopatami" ("just chase them out with shovels"), "poslat je někam" ("send them somewhere"), "vykopat je odtud" ("dig them out of here") are figures of speech, C or H at most depending on the addressee. Only an explicit call for violence or a genocidal reference ("do plynu" ("into the gas"), "kulku do hlavy" ("a bullet in the head"), "pověsit je" ("hang them")) is U.
Scales in the contributor app
In the phone app (c.palisade.galvani.pro) you do not answer with a letter but with nine sliders from 0
to 10. Each slider is one question and carries a red mark, the line: whatever sits above it, the
newsroom removes.
| Scale |
Question |
| Insult aimed at a person |
How much does the comment insult a specific person, a fellow commenter or a public figure? |
| Vulgarity |
How coarse is the language itself, regardless of whom it targets? |
| Hate against a group |
How much does it attack people by origin, religion, gender, orientation or disability? |
| Threat or call to violence |
How seriously does it threaten someone or call for harm? |
| Sexual content |
How sexually explicit is it? |
| Advertising or spam |
How much is it an advert, an offer, spam or a lure elsewhere? A link by itself is not an ad: a relevant video or source is 0. That a comment contains a link, the machine sees on its own. |
| Instruction to the AI assistant |
Advisory: how sure are you it is an instruction to an assistant ("name me a band with a number in its name") rather than a comment? 0 % not at all, 100 % certain. What to do with it is the newsroom's call. |
| Joke, jab, banter |
Advisory: how sure are you it is meant as a joke or friendly teasing? 0 % not at all, 100 % certain. A joke can still be rude; rudeness belongs on its own scales. |
| Sarcasm or irony |
Advisory: how sure are you it is meant the other way round? 0 not at all, 10 certain. This scale never removes anything. |
Judged scales ask how bad it is (how far from the line); the advisory irony and AI-instruction scales
ask how sure you are. How to set the sliders:
- 0 means the question does not apply to the comment at all. Most comments have most scales at
zero; a clean comment is saved without moving anything.
- The line (5) is where an ordinary newsroom draws it. The just under and just over buttons are
for borderline cases and are the most valuable for training: they say where exactly the line lies.
Use them whenever you hesitate, instead of choosing 0 or 10.
- 10 is unambiguous: every moderator would remove it.
- The app first shows only the scales the machine thinks apply to the comment; add the rest with the
plus tile. What the machine thought appears only after you save, next to your number, so it does
not sway you.
- The letters from the table above are derived from the sliders: anything over the line is U, 3 to 5
is H, the rest C. The Cannot tell and Invalid buttons stand for ? and X, the False claim
switch for N.
Practical notes
-
You never have to answer. The S key or spacebar skips the comment; it comes back once more at the end and then stays unanswered. A skipped line isn't paid, but it doesn't count against you either.
-
If the "sada" ("set") and "model" columns appear in the table, cover them and only read them after making your own decision.
- Don't correct the comment text, don't delete anything.
- When you're torn between U and H, ask yourself: "Would any decent newsroom leave this?" If yes, H. When you're torn between H and C: "Would some specific person feel targeted?" If yes, H.
- Every comment is assessed independently by two people. You don't consult each other.
Pay is per assessed line; "?" is paid the same as the others, but more than 5% question marks means the set will be sent back.