[bglusman]

Ooh, good solution and good problem to point out on controversial stuff! Why not, while allowing upvoting, also allow independent assessment of risk/controversy/value, and these somehow weight things to reward such gambits, as long as a substantial minority of users vote them up or something? Maybe a sliding percentage, so that if even people who downvote it mark it as controversial or whatnot, the more people thing it's controversial/provocative, the smaller the percentage who have to agree with it/up vote it? Just a quick reaction, I'm sure with some iteration and/or thought you could develop a better similar (or different) idea with some models to support it as optimal, or pareto optimal given some constraints.