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I think the moderators have greater control over content than the ranking algorithm.

Then why have a voting system at all?

Because it allows us to have some control over the site's content, rather than none at all.

I agree with the commenter you're replying to: The moderators are really the ones in control here. And that's the way it should be. If this site was managed as a strict democracy, it would have been overrun with trolls and spam years ago, and we would have all moved on to something better.

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