Mass surveillance silences minority opinions, according to study
HN is the most intelligent and open minded online community of this size that I know online. 
I have deep respect for you guys and girls and your opinions are always enlightening and thought provoking. 
I really feel much smarter because I have access to all these very valid points of view that you are surfacing.But even this community suffers from this strange phenomena of "group think" which leads me to go into this spiral of silence.I often find myself self-censoring or abandoning the comment halfway, because I know it will get down voted and it's just a waste of time.And I'm not talking about trolling or being aggressive or flaming..Some opinions are just not accepted here on HN and the comment will get down voted fast regardless of how politely or respectfully you try to put it.This is my 3rd HN account - I've abandoned the others (with lots of karma on them) specifically as a protest for (what I thought were) valid opinions being down voted and dismissed.For example, mentioning ideas that some tech might be bad or harmful - that people are addicted to devices, that tech is causing widespread pollution - and the likes - are quickly buried, even though in my view these are subjects which we must openly discuss, since they widely affect us all.Which brings me to the thought: If one of the most intelligent and open minded online communities can exhibit censorship or can determine users to self-censor, then what can be said about other communities/platforms ?