You're not wrong, but maybe on HN at least many of those people can be counted on not to vote out of reflex, unless they do really bring something to the table.

You're not wrong, but maybe on HN at least many of those people can be counted on not to vote out of reflex, unless they do really bring something to the table. The other simple, sad fact is that the big breakthroughs that have some initial traction issues stick around. Often people point to the very early history of SR/GR, but it's worth pointing out how that turned out. When a shocking breakthrough is actually a shocking breakthrough, it ends up producing results that speak for themselves. Until then, when it comes to extreme claims, so many more are just "bullshit" than "breakthrough". Our lives are finite, so it's not wise to ignore the role of triage in those lives.