User Modding

[Grey Acumen]

sounds like even trying this would be a waste of time and effort.

I'm not one to object to new attempts to allow self moderation, but there are already 5 billion accusations of fanboyism about the approved moderators doing their jobs. throwing even the slightest shred of that ability to where actual trolling fanboys can get to it is just asking for trouble.

And Twesterm is right, no matter what you do, no matter how complex and layered you make the self moderating system work, people will find a way to abuse it, and the system itself is highly flawed for the purpose of these forums.

There are 3 sections being represented in these forums, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. No matter which way you're siding, you end up with a 2 vs 1 mentality. If you try to support one side, then the other two sides are just as likely to vote against that, however if you side AGAINST one company, then the other 2 companies side with you, hence no matter where your alignment is, that self moderating system actually supports negative posts more than positive ones.

Actually, here's my suggestion:

Ignore Individual Thread and Ignore Thread by User options. At the top of every thread, you are given the option to ignore that thread. when you do this, you can still access this thread, and even post in it, but no matter how often it is bumped or replied in, you won't see it on the main page. If you are browsing the individual forum sections, threads that you have marked to ignore will apear grayed out and will not display post or page counts. If you notice that a particular user is creating numerous threads that you don't want to see, you can select that user and ignore all threads made by that user.
This allows every individual member of the site to moderate what they see, but without forcing their opinions on other people. Even if you ignore a thread, other users will still be able to see that thread unless they ignore it as well.
Along with this, if a thread or user is ignored by enough people often enough, it will bring that to the attention of the actual moderators, who can then decide if that user is spamming or if a thread needs locked. This doesn't mean that it WILL be locked, but that it is more likely to be noticed in case it does need locked.