probably under the influence of reddit, where this has become completely gamed–i can’t stand this style of information sorting.

I've actually noticed myself doing this by instinct as in the last few months I mostly read Reddit comments sorted chronologically. Part of that is because of the hivemind problem in certain subs, which frankly is even less tolerable the more trivial a subject is, as in, for example, subs for fans of a certain artist where other users jump to downvote people who dare say that not every thing the artist does is perfect. And what's even the point in discussing things if everything is "how good this is", "how amazing this is", etc.?