> if nobody controls the system, then anyone has just as much influence as their peers. This means that systems will have to be put in place to give some power

> if nobody controls the system, then anyone has just as much influence as their peers. This means that systems will have to be put in place to give some power over others in order to control the community. As time goes on I'm beginning think that no matter what the original design of the platform was they will all inevitably regress into something like IRC. The rules will be changed so that groups can split of or filter and focus on some specific area to try to keep the discussion on topic and productive. And inevitably there will be some group that captures control of that group and turns it into a dictatorship. Dissenters will start a new group if they can or leave the platform. Any other design will just become so noisy and unproductive that it turns into a dumpster fire. The reason why HN is not a total shit show is because they sometimes put down the hammer and knock out off topic discussion from the core set of topics that revolve around the practice of programming. > Going one step further, I would propose an invite system. Some of the most productive people who make the best posts are hermits. There people who rarely check in to social media to see whats going on and have little or no friends they could ask for a invite. And on the other hand some of the most crap people are online all the time and have huge networks and can get an invite to where ever they want.