This is a really hard thing to bring up. I want to sugarcoat this as much as possible, because I'm running the risk of flamebait. Maybe it's better we don't think about this, but as a community perhaps it's something we have to face. I don't know, but for better or worse here it goes...
Does a user voting this up become smarter or dumber in the eyes of the algorithm?
I have the impression that Paul Graham hasn't implemented that algorithm yet and/or turned it on because the community hasn't yet degenerated enough. I can't find the specific post where he said that.
That's true. On the other hand, when I do turn it on, it will apply retroactively.
As for the question of what effect this story has, that depends on what the editors think. Probably they'd be split on it. This is arguably an Internet story as much as a political one.
That's a little disingenuous. All the article contained was one paraphrased quote on his campaign being more than a few spammers. It certainly has nothing to say about the voting patterns of ron paul devotees on reddit.
For the record I think the ron paul movement on reddit has in no way been consciously controlled. I think its a classic case of internet mob syndrome. Its like the way people follow the righteous indignation of someone whose camera has been stolen, people band together to right the wrongs against ron paul. Its still a failing of the voting system of reddit though, because ron paul articles just aren't interesting to those not caught up in the mob.
