@StrongBad The list doesn't surprise me at all. I feel at least one of the listed users targets specific users with downvotes (and passive-aggressive comments) for a period of time, out of petty vendetta. I had that sensation from getting random downvotes for some time after I casually straightened this person up over some spiteful comment.

People use internet and social networks for different reasons.

In light of a certain question posted today, maybe it's worth revisiting that topic. Does the accepted answer to that meta question represent the current consensus or not?

I upvoted it just now because it fits my views. Interestingly it seems like eykanal's views may have changed based on the comment on the answer there.

For the recent question in particular, I feel like most of the answers have avoided academia-specific solutions, but that doesn't mean that academia-specific solutions don't exist, and more generally workplace-related questions often have different solutions in academia (for example, the idea of escalating to a manager's manager is sometimes laughable in an academic context)