slashdot has a neat karma system for evaluating, and thus altering visibility of, comments. If a user is active for at least some period of time, and that acti

slashdot has a neat karma system for evaluating, and thus altering visibility of, comments. If a user is active for at least some period of time, and that activity is not overzealous nor too infrequent, he or she is added to a lottery. Winners in this daily lottery are given karma points to spend on evaluating comments. There are many variables that one could tweak differently depending on the news site's situation. I like the general concept for it's egalitarian giving of power. New users still get that happy feeling from their comments getting 'up voted' (on slashdot comments are rated not voted for, but I see no reason why different schemes couldn't work in this context). On a site that's just starting out the win-the-lottery constraints are pretty lax, or at least everyone who follows the rules get karma points to hand out. Or maybe simply registering gives one karma points. I think it's important to encourage users to partake in many roles--low barrier to entry for good intentions; stay inclusive while still providing meaningful content. Their system could be used for submissions, too, not just comments.