Reddit has a system to base comment display and positioning on estimated asymptotic upvote rate, rather than raw scores or raw quotients. Randall Munroe from xkcd outlines the thinking here. This enables comments that are late to the party (like this one :) to gain traction and get displayed more prominently, if warranted by vote/moderation patterns.

Such quality estimators might be less important in a system with restrictive moderation caps a la Slashdot, but it illustrates a good point to consider in designing moderation systems.

Another thing Reddit does right is that "best" is not the only way to sort comments. Those who enjoy debate can choose to browse "controversial" posts instead, for instance.

In effect, Reddit recognizes that different readers have different preferences, and provides mechanisms for browsing and interaction that can accommodate these differences. This has the potential to reduce groupthink, or at least let several groups coexist and exchange information on a single site. Catering better to each individual may thus give a better site for all.

Not to deny your point about reprehensible corporate self-preservation strategies, but in all fairness this also sounds exactly like the USSR disclosure history for the Chernobyl disaster.

Is this possibly a thing humans do, as individuals and in various organized groups?

Answer: yes

I guess that explains Slashdot's choice of "military" icon...

As one of many disillusioned voters and citizens, I've become painfully aware that the government's loin demands a share of my rear end...

(Sorry to be a spelling/typo nazi, but this one was just too vivid to pass up. :)

Tractor Beam Technology Pulling Closer

Isn't the drug situation a bit different from Anonymous?

One reason the war on drugs is ineffective is because monetary rewards for key dealers tend to increase to offset the effects of harsh prosecution. Simple supply and demand.

There is not necessarily as much money to be gained from anonymous cyberactivist/vigilante actions as from drugs. While this is no problem when risks are perceived as low, some players may drop out if punishments are increased, unless some other reward mechanism can be strengthened to offset the deterrence.

As an example, many file sharers I'm familiar with re-evaluated the situation and decided to stop sharing when the activity was criminalized. The threat of punishment certainly didn't kill off file sharing as a whole, but was at least partially effective in making it decline.

Samuel R. Delany pondered this issue already back in 1967 in his thought-provoking short story Aye, and Gomorrah.... It earned him a Nebula Award.

I don't think this is quite right. The butane is actually less massive than the constituent atoms. That is why it sticks together, and why you don't have a heap of hydrogen and carbon atoms flying around instead. In order to dissolve the bound butane molecule into free atoms, energy must be added; this is the binding energy.

However, if you could measure the mass of butane molecule and the oxygen molecule(s) it reacted with before and after the reaction, you will find that mass has decreased. This decrease corresponds to the energy released by the burning, with a conversion ratio given by m=E/c2.