[whyenot]

The way the voting system works at Reddit encourages group think and bubbles. All it takes is five more down votes than up votes and a comment or post essentially disappears from view. It's a design that actively avoids debate.

[polshaw]

That's a huge misreading. Hiding comments in the UI empirically does not suppress discussion, if anything it actually attracts engagement. Lots of people are seeking the "wrong" to "correct" it.

Suppressed debate is almost universally due to biased/captured moderation teams aggressively using bans.

[Vaslo]

You're wrong, because if your karma fall below a certain number, your comments wont show up anymore. I can show you if you like.

People shouldn't be blocked from commenting because their karma goes negative. Spamming, hateful talk, etc should be a completely different system. Just because what you say is unpopular (in one place mind you) doesn't mean your words should be hidden.