Comments that are private conversations

Every blog eventually has to decide what to do about comments. My first answer was a complicated one.

The First Plan: A Machine to Moderate

I did not want to approve every comment by hand. The plan was to let an AI do the moderating, so that I only had to deal with replies. Only I could reply, and the person who started a thread could answer me, and nobody else could join in.

It worked as an experiment. Then I asked the question that changed the design: is this calling the AI for every single comment?

It was. Every comment meant a paid call to a model.

Looking for a Cheaper Shape

I did not want to pay for a model call on every comment. The next question was whether plain rules could catch the obvious junk without one: patterns and deterministic checks instead of judgement.

They can, up to a point. Rules are good at the dull, repetitive kind of spam. They are not good at judgement. And I realised I was solving a problem I could make disappear.

Private by Design

So I changed what a comment is. On Drafted, a comment is a private conversation between one reader and me. You write to me, I reply to you, and nobody else can see either side of it.

It is not just hidden in the page. The database refuses to show a thread to anyone except the reader who started it and me, so it holds even if someone tries to look.

The Rules That Remain

Private does not mean unprotected. A few plain checks stay in place, and none of them needs a model:

• You must have a verified email to write.
• At most two links in a message, and no long runs of repeated characters.
• Thirty seconds between messages, and ten an hour.
• Only I can start a reply, and you can answer my replies in your own thread.
• You can edit or delete your own messages, and I can delete any.

When you press send, the message waits ten seconds with an Undo button before it leaves your browser. There is also an inbox, for readers and for me, that lists every conversation across all posts.

What It Cost and What It Gave

It cost the usual thing a comment section gives a blog: a public conversation between readers. Drafted does not have one. If you would like to talk, you talk to me.

In return, there is no moderation queue, no model to pay, and no way for a stranger’s comment to appear under your name or mine.

A comment box should make it easy to talk to me, not easy to talk to everyone.