| That could be, and the same logic applies. The upshot of my comment was something like this: lurkers likely interpret a post as the OP being on some sort of mountaintop. In this view the moderators and voters are spread out along the mountainside, helping some hikers reach the top and hindering others from getting there. Thus, it looks to the lurkers like the mountaintop is a place where "unwanted" commenters have been stopped from climbing up and only "desirable" discussion occurs. (For whatever definition of "unwanted"-- it doesn't matter and we'll come back to that.) To the OP, however, the experience is much more like a parking lot where anyone who wants to can walk up and interact with OP. Later the mods and voters come in and "clean up" the lot so that it appears to onlookers that there were no "unwanted" interactions with OP-- only "desirable" discussion. Now, let's assume 100% of downvoted comments are actually good faith actors who happen not to agree with what you call the "hivemind." Because of the manipulative design of Reddit, here's what will happen: * people who agree with the hivemind point of view and don't want dissenting opinions will overestimate how good Reddit is at facilitating "desirable" discussion. They will do this because the OP's interaction with dissidents is hidden from them. * people who disagree with the hivemind point of view will underestimate how much interaction OP had with dissident points of view. They will do this because OP's interaction with dissenting opinions is hidden from them. Hivemind peeps lose because they want OP to have what they consider a pleasant discussion when in reality OP is expending considerable energy having what they would consider an unpleasant discussion. Non-hivemind peeps lose because they develop an exaggerated sense of the problem of dissidents not being heard. They were heard by the OP, but the non-hivemind peeps don't see that interaction. OP loses because the hivemind peeps consider the discussion a success and overlook the problem of OP (and many others) expending energy on the more adversarial interactions. But OP loses again because OP's adversaries don't credit OP for interacting with dissidents! |