Again, pure speculation. I seems to me it would eliminate such behavior because the rating and comments would be retained and the criticisms themselves would be subject to falsification. IMHO Let's not forget that the current system was developed in the absence of Netspace and computers and before there were 22,000 journals in every subject. Also, objections to a system like this could be the same argument against wikipedia. I'm not suggesting that edit, reviewing and improving be dicontinued rather improved by a wider audience. James Christian Nelson <xianknelson@mac.com> wrote: I've seen, heard about and personally experienced a lot of BS under the current review system. Indeed, I just served as a reviewer for a paper that took on a theory developed by two members of the old boys network in the communication field. Despite the fact that it was a very good paper, and received thumbs up from two reviewers, it was rejected because it got thumbs down from the other two reviewers, both of whom were clearly the old boys whose theory was being skewered. But would your system change that? Under your system, these two old boys would simply have to sick all of their rabid former advisees on the poor author, drive his ratings into the ground, and then claim that the masses had spoken. There might be other reasons to promote your system, but avoiding the effects of the old boy network isn't one of them as far as I can tell. --Christian Nelson --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.