Why a well-placed path moderates better than a rule

Pocket edition. This is a shorter version of a longer article; you can read the full edition when you have more time.

A well-laid path prevents more conflicts than a written rule, because a rule has to be read, remembered and enforced, whereas a path works on its own and on everyone at once.

The sociologist Bruno Latour explained it with two everyday examples. To get people to close the door you can put up a sign — which requires reading and goodwill — or fit a spring that closes it by itself. To get them to slow down you can put up a sign or a speed bump: the speed bump doesn't appeal to your civic sense, it appeals to your suspension.

His thesis is that there's a delegation at work: a behaviour that used to require human supervision is built into an object, which applies it without tiring, without exceptions and without arguing.

A server is full of these decisions. Where the path begins, how much light there is, whether the community chest is in plain sight or hidden away. Each one quietly does moderation work.