Avoid this
- Starting the healthy comment community prototype before understanding members and moderators of a specific online community
- Treating assumptions or internet opinions as real evidence
- Choosing a scope too large to test and finish with care
High school project idea · Creator Economy & Social Media
Design a Comment Section People Trust
Reimagine online conversation so useful voices rise without rewarding cruelty or outrage.
Research community behavior and prototype a healthier commenting experience with transparent rules, moderation, and user controls.
Original Compass project by Davisville LabsReviewed August 2026Goal real work, evidence, and reflectionEditorial standards →
Why this project matters
Learn by doing something real.
Research community behavior and prototype a healthier commenting experience with transparent rules, moderation, and user controls. This project feels different from a school assignment because the student serves members and moderators of a specific online community, creates something visible, tests it honestly, responds to feedback, and explains the decisions behind the final result.
What you will create
Your project plan
Use these deliverables as milestones for Design a Comment Section People Trust. Adapt the details to your interests, available time, and real-world opportunities.
- 01
Audience insight brief
Research community purpose, harmful behavior, incentives, moderation labor, appeals, identity, accessibility, privacy, and free-expression tradeoffs. Document the needs, constraints, credible sources, and perspectives of members and moderators of a specific online community.
- 02
Editorial and channel strategy
Turn the evidence into a focused plan for the healthy comment community prototype, including success criteria, ethical boundaries, scope, and a realistic path to completion.
- 03
Original content system
Create the first complete version of the healthy comment community prototype. Include community principles, behavior research, moderation policy, user flows, interface prototype, escalation system, and governance case study.
- 04
Audience test and analytics log
run scenario tests and moderated prototype sessions with potential users, including difficult edge cases and appeals Record what happened, what failed, what users or reviewers said, and which changes you made.
- 05
Published creator case study
Publish the final healthy comment community prototype with a portfolio-ready case study showing the challenge, evidence, process, revisions, results, limits, and next version.
Make the work stronger
What separates a finished project from a meaningful one?
For Design a Comment Section People Trust, use these checkpoints to protect the quality of the work without turning the project into a performance for admissions.
Evidence that it is working
- The audience and real problem are clearly defined
- Research and evidence are documented
- A working healthy comment community prototype was created
If you want to go further
- Test the work with at least five additional people from members and moderators of a specific online community
- Interview a professional connected to Trust and Safety and compare their advice with your approach
Skills you can build
Capabilities that travel beyond this project.
Community GovernanceModeration DesignUX ResearchAudience StrategyDigital Publishing
College application value
Use the project as evidence, not decoration.
Can demonstrate initiative, curiosity, reflection, and growth through the student’s choices, response to setbacks, work with members and moderators of a specific online community, and development of Community Governance, Moderation Design, and UX Research.
CreativityInitiativeCommunicationAudience AwarenessConsistency
The goal of Design a Comment Section People Trust is not to manufacture an impressive activity. Do real work, keep evidence of the process, and reflect honestly on what changed.
How this guide was made
Read editorial standards →Design a Comment Section People Trust is an original Compass educational starting point designed around real work, visible evidence, feedback, and reflection. It is not an admissions guarantee.
Ready to build it?
Try this project in Compass