It isn't really clever, but I think biasing the pubic perception of LessWrong discourse is the point of doing so. I don't know how much good it will do to try and alleviate this by appealing to their sense of honour.
From what I can tell the point is sometimes to discredit and warn people who someone thinks are straying close to topics that the someone doesn't like. Bleh, too tired for clear grammar. Anyway. If so, this is incredibly dangerous; it can easily provoke escalation. Don't be stupid. (Edit: I mean, "You who are considering engaging in the above-mentioned retaliation, don't be stupid." Sorry that wasn't clear.)
From what I can tell the point is sometimes to discredit and warn people who someone thinks are straying close to topics that the someone doesn't like. Bleh, too tired for clear grammar. Anyway. If so, this is incredibly dangerous; it can easily provoke escalation.
Could this be a quiet way for people to express ideological tribalism that is suppressed by the "no mind killers" taboo (which I find one of the most refreshing things about LW)? The hypothetical LWer or random reader enraged enough to register, see something that isn't politics but...
People who go back and downvote every post or comment a Less Wrong user has ever made, please, stop doing that. It's a clever way to pull information cascades in your direction but it is clearly an abuse of the content filtering system. It's also highly dishonorable. If you truly must use such tactics then downvoting a few of your enemy's top level posts is much less evil; your enemy loses the karma and takes the hint without your severely biasing the public perception of Less Wrong's discourse.
(I just lost over 200 karma in a few minutes and that'll probably continue for awhile. This happens to me every few weeks. Edit: I mean it's been happening every few weeks for a few months for a total of only three or four. Between 400 and 700 karma lost total I think? I don't mean to overstate the problem.)