This is a terrible idea, for the following reason: If this was the case, engaging in conversation about controversial topics would be "dangerous", as there's a

This is a terrible idea, for the following reason: If this was the case, engaging in conversation about controversial topics would be "dangerous", as there's always a chance to say something mostly reasonable that a large group of people just doesn't like, thus getting downvoted a lot. Usually this just shows you that those people didn't like what you wrote, so you will just learn to be more diplomatic about stuff. If, however, a single misjudgement of the situation can get your rating far below 0 pretty much overnight, without even giving you time to clarify if you think your opinion is being extrapolated to a far more extreme position than what you actually wanted to express. And this goes for both sides of the political spectrum. Even someone who accidentally stumbles into a conversation between extremists could get downvoted for speaking out against that extremism.