How to promote community harmony and cohesion?

[brylie]

Many online discussions tend to amplify disagreements and differences more than solidarity and similarities. This may be due in part to the design of social networks to promote engagement, whereby controversial content tends to rise to the top.

While community codes of conduct can be instrumental to promote constructive discourse, there may also be some technical designs we can consider as well.

What are some ideas on how we can design this social tool to help foster healthy community engagement without discouraging disagreement (or marginalizing alternative viewpoints)? Are there any research studies, design documents, or other social tools that intend to promote constructive discourse by design?

[brylie]

The article It’s not just bad behavior – why social media design makes it hard to have constructive disagreements online offers some advice about social media designs related to online arguments as well as caution about potential side-effects.