> prevailing opinions seem to emerge, and anything that questions or disagrees with them gets downvoted to hell.

I've noticed this too. Also the general bias there is toward asking for help/answers. So if your post or reply indicates that you are encouraging subjective, open-minded experimentation, especially if there is any risk involved, you are flirting with a total freak-out.

It's annoying but there's also a lot of good to be found there.