I can only see one cure to this pervasive issue that affects every website on the internet that allows for user comments: First, verified accounts, like Twitte

I can only see one cure to this pervasive issue that affects every website on the internet that allows for user comments: First, verified accounts, like Twitter, are visually separate from non-verified accounts. The distinction has to be visible on every place the username is displayed or when their post is displayed. Second, only verified users have upvote/downvote privileges. To me it is downright foolish to allow any jackass or botnet to make a ton of accounts and up/down vote the conversation as they please. I have seen this forum management all over the web and it's turning me off from social media more and more by the day. Newspaper comment sections used to be insightful, and now they are generally cesspools of shills and bots. Double or more for forums like Reddit. I even see it on Hacker News. We can have open discussions and we can have discussions free of paid influence, but I do not believe it is possible to have both.