In the same vein it'd be interesting to see examples of extremely unpopular viewpoints that were well upvoted because of the same reasons. I don't know which of the two I'd expect to be rarer, and I suppose that's probably part of why things fall into that end state dynamic so easily. Just like the dynamic I'm not sure there is an easy way out.

Ah, but here's the catch. A comment has to be "thoughtful, substantive, and within the site guidelines". That's 3 arbitrary qualifiers for non conforming opinions.

That leaves me the option of not saying anything, getting modded down/flagged for pointing out blatant hypocrisy, or spending an hour crafting a long-winded comment that is either murky enough to confuse possible down votes, or clearly boils down to the simple controversial statement that many don't like, at which point it bites the dust anyway. So, where's the incentive to do better?

In my experience, the "vitriol" usually comes the above dynamic plays for the nth time, which is the opposite of what you are saying.

Maybe you are unable to recognise this because it appeals to your own biases. Or maybe you do but it simply suits you. Either way, I am not entirely convinced that I should take your opinions at face value and assume good faith no matter what.

Could you share some examples from this site, I’m having a hard time understanding what you mean.

> In my experience, the "vitriol" usually comes [IF/WHEN/BECAUSE…?] the above dynamic plays for the nth time, which is the opposite of what you are saying.

I believe a word was missed out at a crucial point so I'm also struggling with the point. (The caps are for clarity with my request, not some kind of slap down! I'm genuinely interested).

Missing word was "after". My dyslexia has failed me yet again.

Ah well, all cleared up, and I think that you're right. I would definitely say that a good proportion of those who do begin a particular conversation with vitriol have probably had several other conversations on the same topic in other places and they decide to save everyone time by getting to the "end" of the conversation quicker.

Not always but mostly, I'd say.

Most of the time an opinion contradicting the hive mind will end up at 0, -1, -2, for instance controversies as ‘Elon Musk is just a businessman trying to run businesses’ or ‘Not all inconveniences in tech can directly be blamed on Steve Jobs’.

But with topics where there is a media and government wide push against ‘desinformation’ like during COVID, a statement like ‘two weeks to stop the spread doesn’t work’ or ‘the vaccines will not end the pandemic’ the hivemind medical science parrots will very swiftly act to kill and bury this dissent under the proscribed talking points. And yes, that is frustrating and causes crass reactions.

Especially the pandemic really has opened my eyes to a very significant weakness in our society, media, governance and scientific institutions and in the general common sense of the population and its willingness to be manipulated. And it reflects in this site. And it’s not limited to COVID, there are many topics that are just untouchable like most of Woke.

That is not a criticism of the moderation team, it’s on the people who vote on comments and I don’t have a solution either. Personally I just don’t care about the points and try to remain reasonably distant to avoid becoming toxic.