This seems likely to me as the same thing seems to occur when a moderator on a s...

sigmar on Nov 6, 2014 | parent | context | favorite | on: The Reddit Front Page Is Not a Meritocracy

This seems likely to me as the same thing seems to occur when a moderator on a small subreddit makes a post (even without making it stickied). Users seem to take it upon themselves to upvote out of reverence.