What is BeeCheap?
BeeCheap is a new deals platform in development where users can post deals or coupons and receive rewards in return.
Handling duplicate deals:
For the past few days, I have been working on duplicate detection.
To prevent users from posting duplicate deals, I have implemented a check that compares new deal URLs in the editor against existing ones.
When a user enters a URL, BeeCheap removes the optional parameters and compares the base URL with similar URLs on the blockchain. A 100% match is blocked right away. If the URLs are similar but not identical, a warning and a link to the terms of use are displayed.
I think this should eliminate most duplicate deals. If a duplicate still gets posted anyway, the community can vote it down until it disappears from the list.
Scam and spam
Since down voting might take a while, I have given the admin account and moderators (when needed later) the ability to add a comment to the deal. If the comment starts with a specific keyword, the deal is immediately removed from BeeCheap.
Moderators can than explain in the comment why the deal has been marked as scam or spam.
Since deals can still be seen on other frontends, this approach allows users to see whether a deal has been flagged and removed.
I think this is a fair compromise that gives both deal posters and moderators a chance to explain their positions.
If the flag is removed later on, the deal will be displayed on BeeCheap again.
Feedback
What do you think about this method? Any additional ideas?