Yes, this is really an important point. In some online forums, the factor that explains variation among users votes may be precisely the thing we don't want to

Yes, this is really an important point. In some online forums, the factor that explains variation among users votes may be precisely the thing we don't want to factor out. It may, for example, be expertise! I discuss this a bit in my followup article: https://jonathanwarden.com/improving-bridge-based-ranking/ https://jonathanwarden.com/improving-bridge-based-ranking/