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I find the described phenomena not only apply to SO but also to other internet forums, sometimes even to real life (e.g. work place) situations

There is no “quality control” in downvoting a question to double-digits. The simple truth is that you’re just being a gigantic twat if you keep piling on votes like that.

Not sure if there's an official name for this phenomenon in psychology but whenever it becomes "safe" to bash on someone or someone's opinion you can bet that more people are going to do it, even though the "marginal utiliy" diminishes very quickly.

I think it's a variation of deriving some kind of satisfaction by "pushing yourself up by pushing others down". Personally, when I see people do this I know it's someone I definitely do not want to hang out or be friends with.



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