I've mulled this over in watching the community. Unfortunately (for other sites), I've come to the conclusion that it's a cultural thing and therefore subject t

I've mulled this over in watching the community. Unfortunately (for other sites), I've come to the conclusion that it's a cultural thing and therefore subject to the whims of the dominant culture at any time. HN certainly does things (thanks, team!) that make this more likely, such as playing around with the ability to downvote replies to yourself, etc. But I think a larger part of it is "monkey see, monkey do to fit in." If I see an angry, fact-lite comment getting grey-bombed into oblivion, I'm going to probably be less likely to make such comments myself. Sociology has a lot of language for this, but there are few things more powerful than the disapproval of one's peers, virtual or real. (Of course, 4chan/SA as cohesive social entities are simply fascinating too...)