The comment was about the internet "hivemind"; no need to be pedantic about it. Keep in mind that upwards of 95% of people will read comments but not post any

The comment was about the internet "hivemind"; no need to be pedantic about it. Keep in mind that upwards of 95% of people will read comments but not post any themselves (and to address an obvious retort, sure, it'll be a different 95% for each submission). So the general "tone" of the comments absolutely impacts public perception, especially now that practically no-one consumes straight-news without social media commentary. Redditors use identical arguments: "we're different people!" when their website is the most groupthink-y of all.