zlacker

That has always been the case with humanity in general. Think of book authors, there are few of them, but they've been influencing our thinking for hundreds of years. The problem now is, the barrier for entry has become incredibly low (although, this would have been true when the printing press was invented too).

I stopped using reddit because of this. I've no idea about the credibility of the authors, their intentions and their motivation. When I'm listening to someone's opinion, I'd like to know more about them, so I can decide for myself how seriously to take it.

>>czardo+(OP)
> When I'm listening to someone's opinion, I'd like to know more about them, so I can decide for myself how seriously to take it.

This outlook is alien to me. I'm quite the opposite; I'm happy reading and judging anonymous comments purely on the strength of the argument being made there and then (although I don't ignore the background and history of a commenter when that is available to me).

Not attacking your point of view; just very interesting to see an approach described so different to mine.

>>oska+JK
I'm the same, although I have noticed the same usernames on comments here and there on hn - but not on reddit.

I only look through the post history of someone if I feel they have a particularly interesting outlook, or if they're batshit crazy and I'm a bit bored.