I understand totally. The phrase "meme graveyard" comes to mind. I mean, reddit has carried me a long way in terms of how I interact with social media, and it is still and always will be a great community, but EVERY comment is shot down. EVERY post the majority of people make are shot down, and thats just not fun. When I made my first post, I was astronished to recieve just a few comments. This is why hubski will attract lots of redditors. Unfortunatly I dont think it will ever overtake.
Yes, if you disagree with the hive mind, you will get downvoted to oblivion. That's basically the motto of reddit. And honestly, I hope it doesn't overtake reddit. Reddit is great for passing time and with filters in place, you can avoid some(obviously not all) annoying content. Hubski can be more of a mind bleach after a disappointing trip to reddit!
Not only does disagreeing with hivemind get you downvoted, mind. Agreeing with the hivemind puts you in a circle jerk. When I started out on reddit, I got abuse for not understanding the trends of the site or using the right memes. Here, there is no unspoken stupid rules to conform to.
OH yea how dare you NOT KNOW WHAT THOSE MEAN! hhah...those are def silly, always made me laugh. It also makes me sad that now there is a total disregard for rules of subreddit and anything gets upvoted, even if it doesn't belong to the said subreddit. Like most of the r/facepalm posts are actually really funny. I guess it's okay that people are just upvoting based on how much it entertained them but seriously, if it doesn't fit..it doesn't fit.
Prime example, /r/wtf. Comments constantly ridden with stupid discussions about what is WTF, and then, the post itself which ISNT WTF. The mods just dont do anything, and the subreddit just slowly rots. Then, all the truly WTF post are gore.
Using top comments and posts may be the answer, but then new and original content dies.
The horrible fact is that most people are happy to participate in this decline and just adjust to the new content. A lot of my friends say that they just go on Reddit and just upvote anything mildly amusinsg, even though they know its drivel. Because, well, its just the way reddit is going. Contact the mods, comment if something is awfull, screw hivemind. Hivemind doesnt portray all of reddit, just the select few teenagers and circlejerks who are willing to impose their views over the entire site.