This talk of randomized trusted curators is something that made me think of how Slashdot comment moderation operates. I've actually made a post to point it out, simce their system is something good to look into and adapt/adopt for our use here. Thing is, I was looking at it from the system side, something that could be used in changing how the curation mechanisms work, but after reading your post, I think you and @jl777, are on to something here from the strategy side.