[ceejayoz]

SO has strict moderation. That's a very different scenario.

I've moderated forums and tend to generally agree with SO's approach. Not sure I'd leave it to users; we had dedicated moderators do everything. I've seen loosely or unmoderated programming forums, and it quickly goes to shit.

Handing moderation over to fans is a different issue. It leads to strict and horribly biased moderation.