If they leave an “unclear” react, I can’t ignore that nearly as easily—wait, which point was unclear? What are other people potentially missing that I meant to convey? Come back, anon!
Maybe there should be an option that allows you to highlight a part of the comment and react to that part in particular.
Another idea, maybe harder to implement: allow users to start a private chat with the anonymous user who left a reaction. I think in general these kinds of issues are often best resolved through one-on-one chat, and even if the anon chooses not to reply, people might feel less helpless/disempowered if they can reply in some fashion and know their critic is likely to see what they think.
If LW or the EA Forum tried something like this (which might also be helpful in some form even for downvotes), you’d probably want to make the expected discourse norms of these chats extra-prominent in the UI, to reduce the risk of bad interactions (and explain why mods may need to read the private messages if there’s a worry about e.g. private verbal abuse going on).
Maybe there should be an option that allows you to highlight a part of the comment and react to that part in particular.
Another idea, maybe harder to implement: allow users to start a private chat with the anonymous user who left a reaction. I think in general these kinds of issues are often best resolved through one-on-one chat, and even if the anon chooses not to reply, people might feel less helpless/disempowered if they can reply in some fashion and know their critic is likely to see what they think.
If LW or the EA Forum tried something like this (which might also be helpful in some form even for downvotes), you’d probably want to make the expected discourse norms of these chats extra-prominent in the UI, to reduce the risk of bad interactions (and explain why mods may need to read the private messages if there’s a worry about e.g. private verbal abuse going on).