slashdot randomly assigned the task of moderation to logged in users. that moderation was then metamoderated. it was just part of your duty as a logged in user to contribute a little metadata about content. http://slashdot.org/faq/mod-metamod.shtml

Not sure why this got downvoted. IMO this was probably one of the best ways I've seen moderation done on comments online. When you got a chance to metamod you took it seriously since there was no guarantee that you would consistently get it.

That worked great for a vertical focus. Not sure how it would work with as big of horizontal focus as reddit.

The Reddit equivalent to this is voting, and then the Reddit equivalent to meta-moderation is moderation.

Not really. Reddit's system is a pale shell of Slashdot's system and doesn't have any kind of "watching the watchers" features.

Imagine how Reddit would be if you could pick reasons for votes, and then, say, filter posts so you see things which were upvoted for being insightful, rather than being merely funny.

Reddit moderation is about controlling submissions, not voting on comments.

Last time I checked slashdot's submissions are controlled by its staff.

Slashdot's sortition was reasonably decent. Its moderation system, based on finite bounded votes (-2 - +5) though was inherently cripling, as well as the lack of convergence. Any one moderator could shift votes by a full step, regardless of how many others had moderated.

Despite a low (<6 digit) userID, I abandoned moderation a long time ago.

More recent developments have further deteriorated the site... Oddly enough, also utlimately trust-related.

And, it turns out, based on trust violations of another Dice property, SourceForge.