But upvotes/downvotes, karma, and a non-chronological feed (both for submissions and for comments in threads). Those already do some damage.
> a non-chronological feed
For comments that's mostly a consequence of a tree-based commenting model, whose huge benefits over linear model more than offset any "damage" caused by it not being strictly chronological.
If every forum qualifies, you're using the term so broadly that it's useless. That's what everyone else understands, which is making it seem to you like they're missing something you see. They're not.