Good point, I conceded too early. The practical challenges seem too overwhelming.

Like even if you restricted voting to purely accounts that are over a year old, the ones trying to subvert the system could still find ways through.

Though it would force them to up their game significantly, and most likely make the trouble not worth the effort.

I think that "vote manipulation" comment was insinuating that people could do things like using a horde of alts to influence a mod and convince them that removing that comment was a bad move. One user could hypothetically make it seem like much of the community disliked a mod action when in reality it is just that one user maliciously protesting.