There was a psychological study that decided that community moderation tends to be self healing if, and only if, punishing others for a perceived infraction comes at a cost to the punisher.
I believe I have the timeline right that this study happened not too long before StackOverflow got the idea that getting upvoted gives you ten points and downvoting someone costs you two. As long as you’re saying something useful occasionally instead of disagreeing with everyone else, your karma continues to rise.
