Yeah, techical should have actually objectively best comments on top. I don’t agree that in this category the earliest comment wins. Maybe sometimes, but usually I don’t think so. It depends on the size of the thread if people go through the whole section or just small piece. But that’s my opinion but to prove it we would need data.

The value in controversial category is that people dont upvote just because others upvote. It demands thought from a user.

I think ultimately it’s about whether you want to seek the actual truth and getting somewhere with the discussion or not. Truth can only be discovered when thinking is turned on.

You base your answer on only first study when I pasted four examples? And potentially there is more?

I asked ChatGPT about existing experiments on this matter. Sheep behavious is real:

Key Studies: The “Hidden Votes” Experiment (Muchnik et al., 2013)

One of the most well-known studies on this topic was published in Science by Muchnik, Aral, and Taylor. Researchers manipulated upvotes and downvotes on a social news site (similar to Reddit) with 100,000+ users. When an initial upvote was artificially added to a post, it increased the likelihood that others would upvote it by 32%. Downvotes did not have the same effect—they were often corrected by other users. The experiment suggests strong social influence in voting behavior. “Bandwagon Effect in Online Voting” (Lorenz et al., 2011)

This study found that when people saw public votes before casting their own, they converged towards the majority opinion. The effect was particularly strong in subjective judgments, like ratings of art or music. YouTube and Social Proof (Salganik, Dodds, & Watts, 2006)

In a controlled music experiment, researchers manipulated download counts for different songs. Songs with high fake download numbers became even more popular, showing strong herding behavior. “Hidden Likes” Experiment on Instagram (2019)

Instagram conducted real-world A/B testing by removing visible like counts in several countries. Initial reports suggested reduced social pressure, but Meta has not released detailed statistics. What Happens When Votes Are Hidden? Some studies show that without visible votes, people rely more on personal judgment instead of following the herd. However, others found that herding still happens when other subtle signals (such as comments, engagement, or reposts) remain.

Yeah, I edited the answer forgot about case when user wants to vote on many comments, check it out now and see if your questions still hold.