Needling Through the Threads: A Visualization Tool for Navigating Threaded Online Discussions

TL;DR

Needle is an interactive visualization tool that helps moderators navigate and understand complex threaded online discussions by summarizing key metrics and trends, thereby reducing cognitive load and improving moderation efficiency.

Contribution

This paper introduces Needle, a novel visual analytics system that combines interactive visualization with human-in-the-loop moderation for threaded online discussions, a first in the field.

Findings

Reduces cognitive load for moderators

Helps prioritize discussion areas needing attention

Supports decision-making in moderation

Abstract

Navigating large-scale online discussions is difficult due to the rapid pace and large volume of user-generated content. Prior work in CSCW has shown that moderators often struggle to follow multiple simultaneous discussions, track evolving conversations, and maintain contextual understanding--all of which hinder timely and effective moderation. While platforms like Reddit use threaded structures to organize discourse, deeply nested threads can still obscure discussions and make it difficult to grasp the overall trajectory of conversations. In this paper, we present an interactive system called Needle to support better navigation and comprehension of complex discourse within threaded discussions. Needle uses visual analytics to summarize key conversational metrics--such as activity, toxicity levels, and voting trends--over time, offering both high-level insights and detailed breakdowns of discussion threads. Through a user study with ten Reddit moderators, we find that Needle supports moderation by reducing cognitive load in making sense of large discussion, helping prioritize areas that need attention, and providing decision-making supports. Based on our findings, we provide a set of design guidelines to inform future visualization-driven moderation tools and sociotechnical systems. To the best of our knowledge, Needle is one of the first systems to combine interactive visual analytics with human-in-the-loop moderation for threaded online discussions.