Here's how it should work, IMO: (1) An upvote signals a positive sentiment (2) A downvote signals a negative sentiment (3) A subject's "newsworthiness" is me

Here's how it should work, IMO: (1) An upvote signals a positive sentiment (2) A downvote signals a negative sentiment (3) A subject's "newsworthiness" is measured by the sum of upvotes and downvotes (i.e. 5 upvotes and 5 downvotes = 10 newsworthy points) (4) A subject gets buried by measuring the square of the difference between downvotes and upvotes, divided by total votes squared (i.e. 5 downvotes and 1 upvote has a newsworthy score of 6, but it will have a "bury" score of (5-1)^2 / 6^2. This would only apply to subjects with more downvotes than upvotes. Currently, upvotes end up being a mixture of "positive sentiment" and "newsworthy" -- there needs to be a method of distinction between those.