The community moderation system, what it ends up being, will be gamed and abused and alienate and anger people. Don't do it. Witness the toxic mess of StackOver

The community moderation system, what it ends up being, will be gamed and abused and alienate and anger people. Don't do it. Witness the toxic mess of StackOverflow. It seems like the reason HN will come up with a new moderation system is because dang isn't going to stay moderator for the rest of his life. I sometimes feel bad HN has claimed so much of his time. It must be at least slightly depressing to constantly deal with the worst parts of HN. We should send him a thank-you card or a cake or something. There are other candidates for moderator, of course, but would they be as thoughtful? As careful? Will they have the presence of mind to avoid hellbanning people if it would make the HN mod team appear in a bad light, as in this very comment section? (The squabble near the top of this post was HN at its worst, but dang probably couldn't ban anyone involved without giving the wrong impression.) One thing's for sure: A community moderation system definitely won't. But a community moderation system might be a better alternative to a careless moderator, since at least the poor decisions can be appealed. But that would probably be the first time in the history of the internet that something like that worked. So hopefully it will work. If not, I imagine the HN team will do what they've always done: undo the bad decision and think of something else. They're nothing if not persistent and creative.