[nucleardog]

This is towards what Slashdot does (did? haven't been there in a while). When you're given moderation points, you can only use them in a discussion you don't take part in. If you reply in a discussion that you'd moderated, your moderation is undone.

[IanCal]

Yeah, I've always quite liked that idea. Combined with marking things in different ways (funny vs informative, for example) I thought it worked pretty well.

There will always be issues with anything like voting, but it's an interesting approach.

HN also stops you from downvoting someone who replies to you, I think, which is another good idea.