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[–] Stavon 0 points 12 points (+12|-0) ago 

The only thing to prevent a hive mind is to think for yourself. Don't only visit subverses and news sites which support your opinion, read news from different sources and be critical of all of them.

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[–] mAineAc ago 

and be critical of all of them.

This is the most important thing. Most people skip this step because they may overtly agree with something. They stop thinking about it and they don't carry the thought out to conclusion. Being critical of everything is the most important step and people tend to skip it.

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[–] nilceps [S] 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

What if I observe the hive mind in a community? The problem I see is as communities grow bigger recognition of other members is shrinking which means the barrier of falling into the blind punish/award protocol grows.

If I don't have the generally accepted opinion I might get punished by others by getting downvoted wouldn't my normal reaction then be "Well those guys don't like me guess I'll leave for something else" and even if people don't downvote me but I reach way less upvotes than another commenter that made a comment that the "hivemind" liked.

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[–] Porphyrogennetos ago 

All you can do is resist it.

Call out the hypocrisy, irony, double standards, logical fallacies etc etc

There's more than enough work to go around.

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[–] FiftyShadesOfBlack ago  (edited ago)

I doubt it can be avoided. The algorithm (threaded comments, up/down votes, showing the comments with the most upvotes first, hiding the comments with more downvotes (does Voat do that?)) inherently leads to a hivemind.

The best way to resist is not to care about the imaginary Voat-points.

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[–] Stavon ago 

What if I observe the hive mind in a community?

If you recognize it, you're less likely to adapt to it.

The problem I see is as communities grow bigger recognition of other members is shrinking which means the barrier of falling into the blind punish/award protocol grows.

That's why people sharing an opinion gather and tell themself that this opinion is the right one. When the group grows it's now longer important who it is, as long as he belongs to the group.

If I don't have the generally accepted opinion I might get punished by others by getting downvoted wouldn't my normal reaction then be "Well those guys don't like me guess I'll leave for something else"

If your opinion is slightly off, you likely adopt, if it's far off you seek another hive with might fit better. The interesting states are inbetween, the insecure ones. Studies showed that the unsure members of a hive are most extreme in defending it and "missionaring" for it. Another part of unsures tries to rebel and see what happens.

even if people don't downvote me but I reach way less upvotes than another commenter that made a comment that the "hivemind" liked.

Negative feedback coming for the group identifing with is very strong, probably stronger than positive one. There is not much you can do about that, the human mind is not as smart as it thinks it is. All you can do is to be aware of the cognitive biases your brain suffers from.

[–] [deleted] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

[Deleted]

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[–] nilceps [S] ago 

I think the problem lies with the fact that a user can punish/award other users so popular opinions are elevated while unpopular opinions are buried just by merit of democracy (The bigger group is able to punish/award more than the smaller group). This could drive out the other group to make their own little world where they are the majority and similarly can punish/award those things they want to.

I think that problem is the biggest in opinionated subs as opposed to topical subs though even there such a divide can exist (See /r/fitness with SS+SL and /r/bodybuilding with PPL).

I'm just thinking out loud here but smaller groups fracturing to make their own doesn't seem that smart as it just leads to opinions going to the extremes and discussions turning into circlejerks.

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[–] Stavon ago 

What do you think [...] are the main contributors to a "hivemind"

Many "minds" with the same cognitive dissonances reinforcing themself.

[–] [deleted] ago 

[Deleted]