It seems easier to post to /. than to other forums that don't have comparable moderation systems, because one does not worry so much about sounding stupid. Anything you say that is not really interesting just disappears, as long as it isn't inflammatory, troll etc.

As far as I am concerned, this is a good thing, since it encourages participation.

Initial observation about moderation on /. :

If your posts start at only +1, it seems difficult to get to +2. Once there, however, one gets fairly easily to higher scores.

Conclusion (temporary) : the moderators are really still mostly reading already moderated posts. Maybe there should be a moderation display mode where the moderators only see posts below a certain threshold.