I typically wouldn't submit a webcomic to HN but found this XKCD particularly pertinent.
The strange thing is that given Randall's influence, this has a pretty good chance of being implemented.
Couldn't a mob from someplace like 4chan game such a system with a dadaist inversion of constructive/helpful? The result would be a little like Bizzaro-world. Or maybe like 4chan!
To a degree it is, here and on sites like Stack Overflow, by doling out privileges based on karma. Randall has just described a more extreme version of the same idea, where membership itself is one of those privileges.
Forgive my noobness, but who is Randall?
The guy who writes xkcd
Just tried to submit it, was already here...
I think this one really touches the heart of HN :).