[joseakle]

This sounds similar to the rules Yahoo Answers has.

What about users who vote up a story so that it is stored in their history? I do it often, i like a story but don't think i have much to add to the conversation, but still want to keep it.

[t0pj]

Adding a link to your list of favorites should be functionally separated from the public voting system.

There should also be some way to eliminate the votes of individuals whom you have personally black-listed .

Thus, you could toggle between the public view of the main news page with all votes counted versus the personalized view which takes your preferences into account.

Or you could allow votes from only those you have personally white-listed.