I take the downvotes Imm is getting for (informative, clear, concise) answers to requests for clarification—and the number of downvotes his original perhaps-contrarian statement is getting (a larger fraction than any of the others I checked) -- as evidence that, in accordance with Imm’s hypothesis, there are people on LW who regard holding left-wing views as an offence that requires punishment.
(I dare say there are people who feel the same way on the other side, but I haven’t seen any sign that they engage in the same sort of punitive downvoting.)
[EDITED to add: I checked some more top-level comments here, and found a few more with a larger fraction of downvotes than Imm’s, but not many. Those others weren’t obviously political.]
I take the downvotes Imm is getting for (informative, clear, concise) answers to requests for clarification—and the number of downvotes his original perhaps-contrarian statement is getting (a larger fraction than any of the others I checked) -- as evidence that, in accordance with Imm’s hypothesis, there are people on LW who regard holding left-wing views as an offence that requires punishment.
(I dare say there are people who feel the same way on the other side, but I haven’t seen any sign that they engage in the same sort of punitive downvoting.)
[EDITED to add: I checked some more top-level comments here, and found a few more with a larger fraction of downvotes than Imm’s, but not many. Those others weren’t obviously political.]