unfortunately this wouldn't work very well because generally speaking there is attrition involved and the original "early users" base will slowly deteriorate as

unfortunately this wouldn't work very well because generally speaking there is attrition involved and the original "early users" base will slowly deteriorate as people die, retire or change interest, etc. and are replaced by newer users so like it or not, under a weighted voting scheme, the site will still migrate away from its "early spirit" because the exact same people won't be around but replaced by newer people with the inevitable march of time, the complete userbase will be replaced several times over and the site can completely change its tone and "early spirit" in spite of such measures