So what exactly is the difference between these two submissions?

Let’s start with the obvious; beepROBOT’s submission has 10,000 more upvotes. In fact, the submitter of the other post was so brutally ashamed by the score on his submission that he actually deleted his account. But what did [deleted] actually do wrong? Let’s visit the subtle differences between these submissions;

beepROBOT’s submission is of a much lower quality, and is full of JPEG artifacts. The image in [deleted]’s submission is actually quite high resolution image, so we can tell from this that reddit does not upvote properly optimized images. The optimization of the image in no way influences reddit’s decision, and if we were to analyze this data alone, it would show a startling preference for low quality, grainy images. As the current sample size is very small, I don’t think it will be fair to base reddit’s judgment on image optimization; so I will move on.

The title. beepROBOT has carefully selected his title to invite the reader into discussion. His title is a rhetorical question which he already knows the answer to. He knows that the reddit hivemind does not agree with the show Toddlers & Tiaras, and he is playing into this perfectly. By showing that he himself rejects the show, while feigning ignorance to the hivemind’s opinion of the show, he invites reddit to embrace the highly agreed upon viewpoint that Toddlers & Tiaras is a bad show and is open to be mocked. [deleted]’s submission does not play into this. In fact his submission dives right into the deep end and embraces the hivemind with open arms. He knows that Toddlers & Tiaras is frowned upon, and so he is inviting the hivemind to mock and taunt by affirming from the very start that, ‘yes, we all agree on it, let’s discuss it.’ The hivemind however, failed to take the bait this time.

The final point I am going to raise was most likely the deciding factor in reddit’s judgement. Omitted from beepROBOT’s submission was the caption “I almost feel bad for this”. This was pivotal in the hivemind’s decision. [deleted]’s submission brought home the underlying fact that while Toddlers & Tiaras is very disagreeable, the people being mocked in the photo are actually real people capable of emotion and they should be treated accordingly. beepROBOT played on the anonymity of reddit, the fact that when put behind a mask of anonymity, people often show their true colors. We enjoy mocking people with no chance of rebuttal, but to have it instilled upon us by [deleted] that we should possibly have feelings for these people was enough to sway the vote in beepROBOT’s favor. We are not here to feel bad for our actions, we are here to have a good time and laugh at a joke at another’s expense. We do not need to be reminded that our mockery is cruel and unjust. According to the reddit hivemind, Toddlers & Tiaras is cruel and unjust and deserves to be mocked. beepROBOT played into this perfectly.

In conclusion, I believe it is blindingly obvious as to why beepROBOT’s submission gained notoriety as opposed to [deleted]’s. Reddit enjoys mockery without consequence. To instill a moral high ground into a picture mocking what is possibly the most hated show on television was practically karma suicide.