If anything the fact that they haven't been overrun with spam and that they're so popular shows that it does work for a ridiculously large amount of people. Th

If anything the fact that they haven't been overrun with spam and that they're so popular shows that it does work for a ridiculously large amount of people. That's not to say it's not annoying to get arbitration in a niche section of SO/SE site. The site could use a bit more transparency, but that's a difficult balance. I've been a community moderator and also on the receiving end of a power user's whims, so maybe it's perspective or maybe it's bias, but I can't say the system is necessarily going downhill.