Update after another day and a half just because this thread has fascinated me because it’s my second clear outlier: it’s now up to +162, over double my third-highest. Also the immediate parent to this comment has been at +2, −0, +1 and is back to −0 as I write and I’m not really sure why (I’m just describing facts, right?) but that’s part of the fun! I won’t try to predict where this one ends up :-).
I voted it down because numbers don't really mean anything. Top-level comments that directly disagree with the article always do good if they don't get drowned out by another comment doing the same, especially when it's a controversial topic or a comment that directly reinforces people's preconceptions on a topic (and the article is about dispelling the preconception). You pointing it out doesn't add anything to the discussion.
My best comment by far is one on an article about linux support for laptops being great, talking about all the problems I've experienced in recent years, even though I do agree with the article's core statement.
I’ve given plenty of top-level dissenting and affirming opinions, probably at least a few hundred, probably less than a thousand (wild estimate based on the total and memory of likely patterns). The highest I’ve got before was +74 on a positive one (detailing my experiences with fraudulent YouTube Content ID claims of public domain melodies) and +73 on a negative one (detailing specific technical problems on an Informational-class RFC—yes, both of these were much more specific than the current case). Fundamentally such numbers may not mean anything, but when you get one that’s more than double the next highest from such a collection is very likely to mean something. And the final paragraph of my follow-up comment certainly added something (I wouldn’t have posted the number without it).
If someone had written approximately the comment I wrote first, I’d have upvoted it, because it matches my experience.
