The required level is static but increases manually via moderator/administrator intervention. It is currently set at 500. I can downvote pretty much anything.

The required level is static but increases manually via moderator/administrator intervention. It is currently set at 500. I can downvote pretty much anything. The quote you've provided is somewhat misleading, as the required level is not truly dynamic/automatic. It may "rise over time" but it is solely dependent on administrators/moderators manually raising the threshold. As I said in the original post, the threshold should vary from user to user... not be a static, arbitrary number (currently 500) adjusted over time by administrators/moderators. Admins/mods should however tweak the algorithm that determines the threshold. And this threshold should change by the day, maybe even hour... even if only by a fraction of 1 karma point.