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Was on a discord server that let everyone delete one comment and temporarily ban someone using a command. People were careful to not misuse it because people would just use it on them if they did. Unfortunately it broke down when big factions started coordinating attacks, and smaller factions just left the server entirely.

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Thanks for sharing that example! That's exactly the kind of failure mode I worry about with pure democratic systems.

The "retaliation equilibrium" working initially is fascinating - shows that peer accountability can work at small scale. But the faction coordination problem seems almost inevitable as communities grow.

Makes me think the key might be preventing large factions from forming in the first place, rather than trying to make democracy work despite them.

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