Thanks for using words. I am happy to know something I didn't know yesterday... I just don't know why instead of getting answers to the question I asked ("Is my perception of the motive incorrect?"), I got downvotes. Especially when my comment about knowing someone personally who does it for "hipness" got an equal number of downvotes. Anecdotes are not suitable data for proving conclusions, but I would think they are suitable for disproving generalities.
I apologize for complaining about downvotes - I'm just very surprised and disappointed that some innocent curiosity is getting such a vehemently arrogant reception.
You should've started off with the hedging or formed your hypothesis as a question if you were unsure. People aren't going to read past the presumptuous claim to see if you walked it back - they're just going to hit the downvote button.
Also, I don't appreciate your thanking me as a way of passive-aggressively casting judgment on other downvoters. Nobody owes it to you to explain their downvote. I get that it was unexpected and kind of dismaying, but that doesn't mean drive-by downvoting was the wrong thing to do here.
