OK, so I have looked at this in the past week and I think you hit the nail on the head with your page contention suggestion. Seems like most casual browsers will be looking at one of three feeds: active, top hour and top six hours. I think the most viewed is active as it is the default and people coming here, wistful with a fist full, are less interested to change that. The difference between page one of active and page two is good for between 3-20 upvotes in an hour, depending on the overall popularity of the post. When a post gets to the bottom of the page it’s possible to bump it off with as few as two downvotes.
I don’t know motives. I can’t read minds. But that it drives away contributors is something I’m pretty sure of.
OK, so I have looked at this in the past week and I think you hit the nail on the head with your page contention suggestion. Seems like most casual browsers will be looking at one of three feeds: active, top hour and top six hours. I think the most viewed is active as it is the default and people coming here, wistful with a fist full, are less interested to change that. The difference between page one of active and page two is good for between 3-20 upvotes in an hour, depending on the overall popularity of the post. When a post gets to the bottom of the page it’s possible to bump it off with as few as two downvotes.