I'm glad people are thinking about this. Reputation systems should allow Markov Chaining, a la Google's PageRank algorithm. This would be a great help, but with

I'm glad people are thinking about this. Reputation systems should allow Markov Chaining, a la Google's PageRank algorithm. This would be a great help, but with a drawback or two as well. For example, smart rebels or people who genuinely know surprising things would need to find a high-reputation sponsor or they would likely get downvoted to oblivion; but other institutions have strong mentorship mechanisms to counter such tendencies, and so promote innovation and novelty.