So from what I see here there are a few issues, I wonder if a system like stackoverflow would help in this situation where the developers self regulate themselves a little more.

For example Matt was complaining of how long it took for him to be approved for his new theme on a different discussion. If he already had a good reputation by other developers then he could bypass the review process altogether, only low reputations or new developers have to be screened this would lower the strain on the review team.

If we had a system like this it might be hard to game other features like having Freemium or Premium options because if I as a developer approve another plugin or theme and it violates the rules then it can lower my reputation.

Having a good reputation just like stackoverflow could allow you to get more options like adding new tags for these filters when searching for Premium or freemium etc…

As for the algorithm of who is at the top of the list, this reputation system can help as well and add another level to improve your ranking.

The other issue is where I can see how Otto is having a problem with implementation of all this is it’s extremely hard to find all this programically this would "only" require a rebuild of the wordpress.org site. All plugins and themes can stay the same no changes have to be made on their end.

I would even go as far as say it’s worth stopping the development of wordpress core for a version or two to rebuild the .org site. I see wordpress core and .org as a symbiosis they both help each other alot.

Anyways you get the idea