Did the reddit hivemind do a 180 or are the people left behind just the people who don't care.
Prior to the protest reddit was in full support of the protest. Most polls on subs supported a shutdown. Now, seemingly every community cant understand why the protest was needed and they're calling it a mod power trip. There is a 3rd possibility. This is an unfounded conspiracy but reddit themselves could be manipulating scores.
See the NFL thread if you don't mind sending traffic
Don't forget that reddit has the ability to astroturf themselves. Some of those are sock puppets. Others are a coordinated effort by accounts that have never used the subs they're bitching on before.
Check the user history of some of those. They fit the standard bot pattern