"The HARP Variations"

Have others noticed a striking change in the instant growth of Grady Harp's surreal vote totals? Time was he'd break 150 to 200 or so 'helpfuls' within a couple of days, even were he reviewing a used kleenex or a burnt out match. Nowadays, the same absurd vote totals continue to occur, but never within a few days or on his opening page. There one sees, instead, the new tactic of slow, steady, though finally still preposterous growth. Are we to find it probable that hundreds of people who used to vote for Harp astonishingly quickly and oddly in sync have on their own suddenly decided to take it slowly and let the numbers climb into the stratosphere only on less visited older pages? The hypothesis of a single Wizard of Oz serving as his own principal voter - but now seeking to deflect criticism from persons not born yesterday - emerges as the most economical explanation.