I had this meta effect happen to me on one of my answer[1]. I mistakenly accused a downvote on my answer as retaliatory and asked on meta if there were any acti

I had this meta effect happen to me on one of my answer[1]. I mistakenly accused a downvote on my answer as retaliatory and asked on meta if there were any actions available. The meta effect came in full swing, the meta tread quickly became quite toxic (I suggested closing it for that reason but was refused) and my answer got even more downvotes. This experience really caught me off guard. My experience with online communities has never been so hostile before. At the time I was taking a conscious effort and try to contribute back to SO, however this experience pushed me back. I’ve made a few contributions since then, but they probably would have been far more if people wouldn’t have been so hostile towards me in that meta thread. [1]: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/385061/retaliatory-downvote?noredirect=1#comment697118_385061 https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/385061/retaliatory-... PS. I suspect the first downvote on my answer was because my answer was posted with a modern CSS, and I feel like (without having any evidence for) there are some people that actively downvote good HTML/CSS/JavaScript answers that use new syntax and features, while never explaining why the answer is “bad” in any way.