The site can generate a lot of traffic to a submitted URL, so there is certainly a temptation to game getting a URL onto the front page. I think that an inform

The site can generate a lot of traffic to a submitted URL, so there is certainly a temptation to game getting a URL onto the front page. I think that an informal oligarchy was established, certainly with respect to downvotes and flagging. The question is why is it breaking down. More troubling are the number of quality commenters who seem to have departed. One hypothesis I have is that many on the leaderboard (and may of contributors I value who aren't on the leaderboard) don't seem to have any plans to apply to YC, they just want to take part in a community of hacker entrepreneurs. If more effort is not given to establishing a richer community model that is not managed as an adjunct to the accelerator they will probably continue to drift off.