Exactly. The conformation bias of each popular thread is often as skewed as the opinions themselves.

I will open, vote, and comment on almost any font-page post that involves GSW, and ignore about half the posts that don't even if they're near the top. Most people are probably the same.

People who hate a certain player are more likely to participate in a thread bashing that player, and more likely to ignore a thread celebrating them. We all want to join a discussion with people who agree with us so we can feel good. A smaller percentage wants to argue with people they think are really, really wrong--and they're usually on the top if you sort by controversial.

Each popular post is kind of a cool microcosm of the internet. It's neat, but it also means you shouldn't take any single upvoted post seriously, because each one becomes its own echo chamber.