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I think two things happen as online communities grow.

1. People, consciously or not, start forming their comments with upvotes in mind.

2. People realize that positive comments don't generate as much discussion as neutral or negative comments. Less discussion, less upvotes.

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These are both rough and one I've fallen prey to them more than once. It's really shitty to write out a long, well thought out, positive comment and then it get buried and there be no discussion (I care more about discussion than points but points beget more discussion usually). Then I'll pop off in a 1-2 sentence comment and it will rise near the top and have lots of discussion. It's frustrating that effort isn't always rewarded and it sometimes feels like it's better to optimize for points just to get your idea/concept across.

The next stage is when everyone realizes the most upvotes go to whoever can come up with the best one-line zinger and the comment sections become improv night.

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