On the other hand... have you taken a look at a YouTube comment thread recently?
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Most blogs include have a culture of their own, and dissenters can always be taken out and shot. Or banned - whichever is easier.
So scrappy free for alls aren't inevitable. You only need good enough moderation for something worthwhile to emerge.
And blogs have a very live reputation. When Kos bans someone, all of the related communities know about it. So there's a feedback feature there which makes it possible for respectable non-flame-ish blogs to coalesce and start having an effect.
