> Then how does the inviter know, that they can vouch for the invitee? AFAIK you aren't accountable for your invitees on a day-to-day basis. It just reflects p

> Then how does the inviter know, that they can vouch for the invitee? AFAIK you aren't accountable for your invitees on a day-to-day basis. It just reflects poorly on you if you invite many poorly behaved people - this isn't substantially different from everyday life. > Perhaps no one there knows me. Why would anyone vouch for someone they don't know? Some people do invite everyone who asks. They can have their invite rights disabled or in extreme cases be banned from the site. This is relatively rare. You can see examples of this at https://lobste.rs/moderations?moderator=%28All%29&what%5Busers%5D=users https://lobste.rs/moderations?moderator=%28All%29&what%5Buse.... > Wouldn't that make vouching a useless hurdle? Lobste.rs has a small audience and 3 moderators. The moderation is also much more active than HN - moderators will send private warnings, delete off-topic posts, etc. Moderator actions are publicly visible at https://lobste.rs/moderations https://lobste.rs/moderations. Vouching raises the barrier to entry and allows the moderators to keep up with the workload.