[MattGaiser]

Has any alternative to meanness been found for turning random rabble of highly assorted quality into something with a minimum bar?

The military does it. Prisons do it. Stack Overflow does it. It clearly works and has for millennia. Just wonder if it is the only way.

I agree that if SO that was nice to people who did not do much prior research would quickly have a lot of junk.

[singularity2001]

Gentle education? Scandinavian prisons do it, schools do it, HN does it*

* (I was once called out by dang for posting humor/meme content but fully comprehend now how keeping such stuff away yields better discussions)