Just to clarify, the vote will be to identify a good message, such that those will have increasingly positive scores over time. Dumb or useless messages stay at or near zero. Lurkers will do the math, and use less bandwith and time bringing down garbage.

Moreover patterns will emerge as to who tends to post high-scoring messages, and that's a friendly competition that can only have positive results. In particular, those with excessive free-time and nothing to say might think twice before posting another zero.

Parenthetically, note that moderators are basically useless in threaded environments.