How do they distuingish whether people just read upvoted comments more or are more likely to upvote after actually reading the comment than when it is not upvoted? I know that I personally am more likely to read higher upvoted comments for the simple reason that I think they are more likely not to waste my time. The comments I don’t read I don’t upvote or downvote.
That hypothesis predicts that the manipulated comments would also received more downvotes, but they didn’t. For an example that sounds like your hypothesis, see the claim that Eliezer’s comments get large karma scores, both positive and negative.
How do they distuingish whether people just read upvoted comments more or are more likely to upvote after actually reading the comment than when it is not upvoted? I know that I personally am more likely to read higher upvoted comments for the simple reason that I think they are more likely not to waste my time. The comments I don’t read I don’t upvote or downvote.
That hypothesis predicts that the manipulated comments would also received more downvotes, but they didn’t. For an example that sounds like your hypothesis, see the claim that Eliezer’s comments get large karma scores, both positive and negative.