Alternatively: it enourages brigading and group think. Controversial opinions, even wildly incorrect ones (think: conspiracy theories and ideological nutjobbery) are also heavily upvoted, and it's the discussion that gets buried, since the only ones voting on comments are the people invested in the discussion.
So it's routine here to find topics of general interest, and click on them to find some kind of broad conspiracist screed at the top of discussion, try to reply, and discover yourself rapidly buried.
It's a real problem. And, yes, it tends to have a decidedly partisan bent to it. There are lots of perspectives you just can't get in front of eyeballs on HN in a meaningful way, you just end up rolling in the slop with the pigs.
So it's routine here to find topics of general interest, and click on them to find some kind of broad conspiracist screed at the top of discussion, try to reply, and discover yourself rapidly buried.
It's a real problem. And, yes, it tends to have a decidedly partisan bent to it. There are lots of perspectives you just can't get in front of eyeballs on HN in a meaningful way, you just end up rolling in the slop with the pigs.