None of this is doing the site any good; it's just more toys for users to play with.

Hey, I have a great new idea! Let's let the mods do their jobs. They were appointed by The Boss and Co. for a reason.

There's a reason in this world why we don't let citizens be the police. They go through a strict series of checks and they have to qualify to become an officer. I see nothing wrong with letting this website mirror what works in real life.

Actually, it serves a very specific purpose. If you want a bad thread to go away, the best way to do that is to not comment in it, but invariably you have someone who feels the need to bump a thread to say how a thread shouldn't be on the front page. Now threads that deserve to be buried can be buried, at least for those that feel it needs to be buried, and they can do so while still allowing those that want to see the thread to see it.

and yes, I think it's great to let mods do their jobs, etc, but there's no harm in trying to find ways to ease their burden. It's not like they're getting paid for this crap.

I think it's a good thing for people to face those threads.  If nothing else, people should be constantly reminded that there are others who think and believe differently than they do.

At any rate, I think if people just completely avoided the threads that bothered them that we would have a much less active forum. 

The problem i see in "karma points" is, that we have a biased forum here. People have been complaining about the users "Wii bias", and this definately wouldn't help a bit.

If people wouldn't respond to threads they don't like, the problem wouldn't exist, since flooders get banned eventually. And if the guy is just upping the flooded threads, i believe that would lead to a ban too. I admit, that sometimes dozen threads that are just the same get annoying, but the mods here, IMO, are doing good work to prevent it.