Hivemind

Hivemind (or hive mind) refers to collective thinking by a group, often facilitated by communications technology. In online contexts it is usually used disparagingly to describe a community that shares beliefs uncritically, reacts in unison and treats dissent as deviance, as if the members were components of a single organism rather than independent individuals.

On Reddit the word is shorthand for a specific complaint about how voting shapes discussion: because upvotes promote agreement and downvotes hide unpopular views, a subreddit can develop a dominant outlook that is hard to challenge. Calling something "the Reddit hivemind" is a way of arguing that a position is popular not because it is correct but because the ranking system rewards conformity. It matters because it points to a genuine governance question for any vote-ranked platform: how to surface quality contributions without simply amplifying majority sentiment.