Actually, Fastolfe, you're right. If Perl? had been deleted after being declared a known troll post, which would have been after the first reply by the same(?) Anonymous Monk, more downvotes (votes in general) would have been conserved for praising good posts or actually downvoting bad but otherwise non-troll posts.

But, OTOH, this makes vroom's life more complex since he would have to be vigilant to the threat of trolling posts. (vroom in this context may or may not consist of multiple editors with vroom-like power to remove trolling posts.) It is the whole argument of the /. v trolls issue or the possibility of crying homework. I'm for removing trolled nodes, but beyond something as blatant as Perl?, who decides to pull the plug?

ALL HAIL BRAK!!!