== On your topic about the validity of votes. == 

 I think it is generally lacking that there is not a way you can see how many people are actually watching an article AND out of those have some kind of weighted value rating about their participation. For example, how long ago they editted, how many edits, etc ... 
 This same rating could be used to see what votes are actually credible. Not to mention that you can't tell if there is an article that 100 people are watching; no point in being 101. Or articles that have been neglected by all editors. I know I should post this on the development mailing list. Maybe I will in due time.