It's because: a) there's a lot more demand for alternatives among groups that have been kicked off analogous platforms. You almost have to hide them to avoid t

It's because: a) there's a lot more demand for alternatives among groups that have been kicked off analogous platforms. You almost have to hide them to avoid the stain. And of course, when a Buzzfeed editor asks why you haven't kicked off $UNPOPULAR_GROUP_X, they're not going to convey your actual principled response; they're going to convey that you're a closet $BAD_THING. b) people remember offense and want to stay very far away from things that have offended them. Most judgments, by necessity, are made subconsciously. The association between "Reddit Name and Mascot" and "Bad Thing I Saw on the Front Page" is going to be made automatically and take many times more effort to undo. "Don't shoot the messenger" is a phrase because our inclination is to lash out at the perceived vessel. It requires additional abstraction to take the immediate/physical association out of the mental blame loop. This is why Facebook starts totally empty. It's why Twitter starts totally empty and then suggests the most banal/run-of-the-mill initial follows. It's why reddit can't shake the edgy atheist college sophomore as it's primary demographic (that demographic upvotes things that appeal to their niche only to the front page, scaring away everyone else). People don't want a neutral point of view, they don't want both sides. They want their views reinforced and their egos stroked. Nothing else will suffice. Consumers are very unforgiving. The fact that we can now retreat into an infinite echo chamber via the internet has had highly deleterious effects on civility.