IIRC, when comment moderation and scoring came to Slashdot, only a random (and changing) selection of users were able to moderate.
Meta-moderation came a bit later. It allowed people to review prior moderation actions and evaluate the worth of those actions.
Those users who made good moderations were more likely to become a mod again in the future than those who made bad moderations.
The meta-mods had no idea whose actions they were evaluating, and previous/potential mods had no idea what their score was. That anonymity helped keep it honest and harder to game.
It's still that way today: if you're active, you'll be randomly given 5 moderation points occasionally, and they expire after a few days. So you have to decide which threads and comments are worth spending a "moderation point" on
Sorta.
IIRC, when comment moderation and scoring came to Slashdot, only a random (and changing) selection of users were able to moderate.
Meta-moderation came a bit later. It allowed people to review prior moderation actions and evaluate the worth of those actions.
Those users who made good moderations were more likely to become a mod again in the future than those who made bad moderations.
The meta-mods had no idea whose actions they were evaluating, and previous/potential mods had no idea what their score was. That anonymity helped keep it honest and harder to game.
It's still that way today: if you're active, you'll be randomly given 5 moderation points occasionally, and they expire after a few days. So you have to decide which threads and comments are worth spending a "moderation point" on
How does meta-moderation work these days? I remember it being called Chips and Dip instead of /., but it's been many years since I've hung out there.