I've seen this kind of thing pop up in forums over the years. Depending on the audience involved, either you start with strong moderation from the start and mak

I've seen this kind of thing pop up in forums over the years. Depending on the audience involved, either you start with strong moderation from the start and make no apologies, or you kinda let "the board decide." Invariably in the latter case, users eventually decide they want moderator elections, etc. because they can't trust the system and the moderators allowed dissent. HN takes the former model and it seems to have worked out pretty well.