> anyone who posts about this issue on reddit gets downvoted and teamed up against by established Reddit accounts, that I have to imagine are owned by Stripe.

You seem to be underestimating the power of fanboyism. If someone is a fanboy for a company/technology/whatever, they will defend it vehemently without even being paid for it.

> mainly talking about coding in PERL. It's a little sus.

But this now makes me want to ask you if you think those accounts are in the room with you right now.