“Slashdot uses an elaborate scheme of blind moderation in which users are randomly assigned the ability to rank each others’ messages so that other users can filter what they read, excluding low-ranked posts. These strategies are effective for weeding out the pathetic attention-seekers, but they don’t have a great track record for creating rollicking discussion. Instead the tone of the discussions, even read at the highest level of moderation, is an angry, macho one-upmanship. The top posts are often scathing rebuttals of someone else’s ill-considered remarks.