> Surely you also see the absurdity of comparing Reddit upvotes to democratic elections. He may, but I don't. American elections are decided by very thin margi

> Surely you also see the absurdity of comparing Reddit upvotes to democratic elections. He may, but I don't. American elections are decided by very thin margins, and I think even small streams of influence can have outsized outcomes. Swiftboating and Rathergate come to mind. I specifically think the rise of /r/The_Donald, just before the election, which carpet-bombed the ever-living daylights out of the front page, had a non-inconsequential effect on the vote. It's why Reddit changed their long-standing front-page algorithm. I'm truly surprised they didn't do so the month before the election. Utterly astonished, actually.