Early in its corporate existence, AOL recognized two truths that every web company would eventually confront. The first was that the internet was a teeming hive of scum and villainy. The second was that there was no way AOL could afford to hire enough employees to police it. Instead, AOL executives stumbled upon a novel solution. Instead of trying to police their sprawling digital commonwealth, why not enlist their most passionate users to do it for them?
