Dog-piling is when someone expresses an opinion and people swarm in the comments telling the OC how wrong they are and how right they are. Typically the person getting dogpiled is downvoted into oblivion in the process. Note that I'm not talking about anything controversial in their opinion or the comment being trolling in any way; just any general disagreement with the groupthink.
Brief example:
User 1: There are lots of factors at play here, not just money. There's X, Y, Z, and those are all independent from money.
|____> User 2: No, it's money. It's always money
|______> User 4: Right? How can anyone think it's anything *but* money? Some people!
|____> User 3: Yes, well, X, Y, and Z wouldn't be a problem if not for capitalism, so it's definitely money, and you're wrong.
|____> User 5: It all boils down to money; always does.
|____> User 6: Of course it's money. Only a capitalist bootlicker would think otherwise.
|____> User 7: Go back to Reddit, troll.
|____> User 8: You're so close, but it's money.
...
|____> User 999: (Same as the last 998 comments; contributes nothing except attacking the opinion for being different)
None of that adds anything to the discussion; they're not engaging on the subject, just attacking the opinion because it differs.
That behavior does not seem healthy to me and seems like it's almost designed to discourage anyone from expressing any opinion that's not part of the established group think. Again, I am not talking about trolls here, just any kind of differing opinions.
Should that kind of behavior be discouraged? If so, as a mod, what would be the best way to address it? After the 2nd or 3rd dogpile comment, start removing subsequent ones that are just piling on?
It's definitely a people problem, so I'm curious what would be a gentle but firm way to deal with it.
Three through the thread. That said two are too many, when the second replies to a comment telling the first comment already misses the point. The focus is on things like:
I picked a non-political example to avoid intrusive discussions. (But it does affect political discussions too.) You see this shit in real life, and in Twitter (ye olde "Twitter MC of the day" boils down to dogpiling), and in Reddit, and here. And yet it's non-contributive; it's a bunch of people saying the same shit, if you're Alice this shit is aggravating, and if a newbie sees it they say "nope, I'm not going there". All because the "hive mind" decided bananas >> other fruits > shit > apples.
(Or that you must use the 3-2-1 rule for backups. Or that "animes", "mangas" and "pokemons" violate everything that is sacred. Or that a certain game mechanic is shit/good instead of being good/shit. You get the idea.)
We need some way to address this. That's what OP is asking about.
About downvotes vs. toxic positivity: that link works nicely to provide us a definition. I think "toxic positivity" = "social unacceptable of people acknowledging negative emotions and/or attitudes" should work well enough, is that OK for you?
I don't notice it. Even in instances like Beehaw and Blåhaj (both deactivated downvotes), I don't see this popping up. In Beehaw for example you can pretty much rant to your heart's contents; as long as it's reasonable, and you aren't being an arsehole to other users, it's well-received.
As such, if any measure addressing dogpiling needs to tweak how downvotes work, I don't think it'll breed toxic positivity. I don't think messing with the downvotes would be necessary for this, though.
If you are the comment police please show your badge.
I wasted my time re-explaining the OP to you, because it's clear that you lack the basic reading comprehension necessary to even know what people are talking about here. And because you don't know it, but you were still willing to vomit your opinion and re-eat your own vomit, you were being nothing but a dead weight and a burden in this thread.
If this is "comment police" behaviour, I don't know. Or care. I also don't care if this hurts your precious fee-fees of entitlement so much you screech "waaaaaah, you is of comment polyce? wurr is you are badje???" My blocklist is full of dead weight like you, after I tell them to go fuck a cactus.
Go fuck a cactus.
Hey,
I always find your interventions useful, and this thread was quite interesting, but please don't insult other users.
That users seems to be trolling you, no need to feed them.
OK - sorry. My bad.
No worries, see you around.