One of the interesting things about the 500 vote threshold for downvoting is that it kind of incentivizes incendiary comments. If you make a comment that picks

One of the interesting things about the 500 vote threshold for downvoting is that it kind of incentivizes incendiary comments. If you make a comment that picks a side on a hot-button topic and delight 50% of users and annoy the other 50%, you will on net get upvotes, because the half who like the comment have more sway on the voting than the half who don't. I like that we limit downvoting, but it has side-effects.