Following on from previous discussion on this topic...

Problem:

In the eye of the public (that is, not-logged-in visitors), the apparent quality of the site can be significantly dragged down by answers (or other replies) which are esteemed by the voting population to be notoriously poor.

Proposed Solution:

Within threaded views of discussions, hide from Anonymous Monk any replies with a sufficiently low negative reputation.

Details:

In the threaded view of a post within a section such as SoPW, and within the threaded outlines displayed by RAT, any reply with a reputation below a given threshold will not be displayed. (This has the effect of hiding the entire sub-thread rooted at such reply as well.) This feature would only affect Anonymous Monk. Proposed threshold: -7.

This would not affect any node being viewed "directly", only replies under it -- regardless of that node's type or reputation. It also would not affect root posts being shown in RAT.

FAQ

Q. I want to see every reply, even low-rep ones. Does this affect me?

A. No, as long as you're logged in.

Q. Ok, suppose I'm Anonymous Monk. Can I opt out of this "feature"?

A. No, as long as you're not logged in.

Q. Ok, then are these "very bad" replies completely inaccessible to me?

A. No; you can still get to them via other normal means, such as Search and Super Search, and direct links.

Q. What about in Newest Nodes? Will these "very bad" replies be hidden there as well?

A. Not under the current plan. That's a more "raw" interface, and isn't particularly useful for visitors trying to get a view of a "question" along with its "answers".

Q. I think a node would have to be much worse than -7 to merit this kind of treatment.

A. That's not a question. Here's a question: What threshold value would you suggest?

Q. This sounds like reaping but without the process. Why don't we just let the reaping process handle this problem?

A. The criteria for reaping are fairly strict. Simply having abominable technical merit (for example) is not sufficient grounds for reaping. Yet these are not strangers to our land it may still be desirable to shield the eyes of innocent visitors from such content. That's all we're trying to do here. Once you've signed in at the front gate and picked up your meal chit, all content is laid bare, just as always, no matter how bad.

Other thoughts on this idea? Alternative proposals?

See my update below.