This is why I stopped reading MetaFilter comments; it was the same people getting upvoted simply because they had been upvoted before with little to do with the quality or even correctness of their comment. If they came into a post with an opposing view than the previous posters, it all of a sudden became an apology fest and comments began skewing to that user's perspective. When I saw the effect it was having on propagating misinformation and misconceptions, I had to put the keyboard down and walk away.