Are conversations archived somewhere? Here's my reasoning:

1. Some conversation and/or the site gets dugg

2. Thousands of incoming users waltz in with good karma

3. Everything goes to hell

Wikipedia, Everything2 et al. have some resilience because the audience is more than just who's using the site at the moment. Dunno if you've thought about that in great detail or not. Also,

* Friend system. Encourages people to band together against the trolls

* Bookmarking