Former Lotus CEO Jim Manzi is a man I respect very much, so when he takes an investment stake in something, I think it’s worth listening. Manzi and ex-U.S. Senator Bill Bradley are both investing in Gather.com, a Boston-area startup that aims to build a blog community by paying the contributors. It also has an eBay-like ratings model that lets readers vote on their favorite bloggers. I guess the idea is that the top rated bloggers get more traffic and therefore more money. All the dollars come from advertising.

Manzi posts on Gather about how the company’s business model could challenge what he called the “literary industrial complex,” which is his sardonic term for the big media companies. Manzi has never much cared for the press, so it’s not surprising to see him investing in something that pokes a stick in their eye. It’s a literate, if somewhat wordy essay and you can see how a concept like Gather could work.

I don’t know if it will work, of course, but it’s good to see investment capital continuing to flow into companies that are trying to structure the blogosphere. Chaos is social media’s biggest enemy. These media will achieve its potential only if trusted voices emerge and selected bloggers begin to have an impact. Otherwise, it’s just a lot of people shouting.