Do I turn thumbs down if some says figure X is the best and I prefer Y, of if they say that .pp2 is a pose file and I think its not, or if I agree with their statement but don't like their attitude? What if they do all three in the same post? I see problems with consistency - even if it were used in good faith and not as a weapon - which it would be. Keep it simple with an ignore button.

I agree with Sam that such gadgetry should be unnecessary. If everyone always behaved in a way that everyone else agreed with, we wouldn't need police or lawyers or a lot of other things as well. Given the average age of the membership here, saying GTFU is about like 'Just Say No' to sex, drugs and cheating on your taxes i.e. ain't gonna happen. The advantage of having moderators do the disciplining is that they, at least in theory, are a reasonably fair and neutral authority.

I like the lunchroom example but I'm not really sure how well real world behavior transfers to the internet. There may be a difference between cyberspace and being able to see and even know your peers, interpret their body language etc. It may be that all the real world propensity for cliques, mobs, vigilante justice and petty squabbles are magnified by the anonymity and the temptation to post without thinking. I'm anti-authoritarian by nature but in this environment I'm just not sure that depending on self discipline works.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken