[data4lyfe]

Exactly. Let's say that MarketRank grows in market share to be the dominant search engine. What's to stop someone from then gaming Reddit / HackerNews posts and comments with bots and fake accounts because the operator understands that these websites now have "community verified rank importance"?

[fortran77]

They're already gamed or easily gamed. You can buy Reddit accounts with high amounts of karma which are sold to people who are trying to do "astroturf" promotions.

[CityOfThrowaway]

Yes, and the sites themselves become valuable targets for M&A because of their outsized influence