I think that's a bit too simplistic. There are many conversations going on at the same time, and this is a property of how they emerge. Seeing something to object to activates enough energy to make a post— like a swimmer needing something to push off against.
The interesting thing is how obvious it is once you know what to look for, yet also how poorly understood it is. If it were understood, we wouldn't see so many comments of the form "I can't believe the comments here". Someone who's aware of the mechanics of objection wouldn't express themselves that way, because they'd know that their objection-to-the-objections is the same thing. I don't think this is bad, by the way; it's just that it comes from the structure of the forum and not from any of the specific topics people think it has to do with. The medium truly is the message. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
The interesting thing is how obvious it is once you know what to look for, yet also how poorly understood it is. If it were understood, we wouldn't see so many comments of the form "I can't believe the comments here". Someone who's aware of the mechanics of objection wouldn't express themselves that way, because they'd know that their objection-to-the-objections is the same thing. I don't think this is bad, by the way; it's just that it comes from the structure of the forum and not from any of the specific topics people think it has to do with. The medium truly is the message. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...