It's no surprise that this would be common, especially in some subverses. But those that are supposed to be serious and for discussion often get poisoned by this. Up-votes and down-votes can make things rather one-sided and into a hive-mind of sorts.
How can we, mods or the community at large prevent hive mind mentality? Even if people don't downvote comments or posts that go against their beliefs they are less inclined to upvote than someone that agrees and makes other good points. Doesn't this foster some sort of hive mentality and where is it a good thing and where is it a bad thing? If I don't have an opinion yet about a topic and the highest comments are all about x is really y does this mean that it is right?
Does this promote conformity and stifle discussion indirectly?
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[–] Camels-n-Miller ago
In reality the entire concept of /r/ and /v/ with the "Top" or "Hot" is the internet equivalent of an oxymoron.
We as users come here for content. Be it news, cat pictures, controversy, what have you. We are by default looking at the most popular items of said content based on other users "voats". Ideally that content should be the best, and most relevant to our need for stimuli.
Transversely our desire to see the particular content we desire impels us to up and down voat these submissions accordingly. In the desire to see the most relevant content to our personal desires we succumb to need to "fit in". If everyone else likes something we should inherently be interested and see what there is to like about it.
Some of that "everyone else likes it" comes down to social stigma, and need for acceptance that is a part of human nature. That need is greatest in the younger generations, and documented with the general concept of peer-pressure.
Emerging technologies and means of communication inherently attract the most technologically astute, and with the advancement of technology moving as fast as it has over the past 20 years shows the youth are the first to adopt new ways. Along with that new adoption comes new social norms. Those inherently cause behavior changes, and the eventual need for acceptance. That need for acceptance is what promotes and reproduces the "hive mind".
I'm not trying to say /r/ and /v/ are terrible, or anything like that. I want to suggest any successful collection on individuals on the internet is going to inevitably fall back to the social norm. Even adults still seek to be accepted in the normal state.
Avoiding the "hive mind"? It happens outside of the internet, and to even more extreme extents than being in negative karma or banned. It results in war, murder, and all manner of human suffering. We may idealize the concept of utopia on the internet, and it is a noble concept. Human nature shows though that it is really unobtainable. There will always be "karma-whores" in real life, and here. There will always be people that follow the flock (notice how many terms in the English language refer to this concept). If we really are in the Matrix then agent Smith's "Inevitability" would be quite different.