It should be mentioned explicitly here -- as it has been in the discussion in the other thread, and as I know you have seen since you replied to it -- that JoshuaZ reports precisely the sort of "karma assassination" behaviour you describe, in connection with the same topic.
I agree and even considered mentioning JoshuaZ's reports as further evidence that not only is there a distinction between the two but that in this case there are probably far more representative targets you could point to which would allow you to champion your (inferred, primary) cause without hindrance due to the actual expressed petition.
But that is plainly not what was happening, because only comments on one side of the issue were sitting at gratuitously low values relative to, for want of a better term, their topic-agnostic merit.
'Topic agnostic merit' would be misleading. If the topic were to go through a translation device that removed information about the topic but preserved reasoning style and social-political implications the comments would still be easily distinguishable. For some the problem with the topic is that it inevitably produces a certain type of thinking. It not merely the topic that one must be agnostic to. It is better to refer simply to your subjective evaluation of merit, which is at least unarguable.
I am not sure why you think the word "campaign" is appropriate
It seems the best word for it. By all means provide a better word or phrase that expresses the same thing with sufficiently few words. The word is connotatively neutral to me. You have my support in your conditional on it being a against karma-assassination and not a against downvoting the kind of comment that you mentioned. I am declaring my own against the latter but pointing at the karma-assassination target as a way for you to achieve your goal without opposition or controversy..
, though I can see why you might find it rhetorically convenient.
No, I'm good and virtuous and you are sinister and I see through you because I am insightful and sophisticated! (ie. I reject those connotations, but lets move on. We're both being as forthright and straightforward as we can be here, not deviously rhetorical.)
(I think the bits about the term "campaign" weren't there when I replied before, hence the separate reply.)
OK, all noted. How about the following? (Which I hope will both clarify my position and get past debates about potentially tendentious terminology.)
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.