Technology, Anthropology: Clay Shirky on the Design of Social Software

"Rating, karma, meta-moderation -- each of these systems is relatively simple in technological terms. The effect of the whole, though, has been to allow Slashdot to support an enormous user base, while rewarding posters who produce broadly valuable material and quarantining offensive or off-topic posts."

Source: Shirky: Group as User: Flaming and the Design of Social Software