Downvoting is a form of moderation, and we all know what happens to online communities without moderation. I downvote low effort comments, including views I di

Downvoting is a form of moderation, and we all know what happens to online communities without moderation. I downvote low effort comments, including views I disagree with if they are off topic or poorly expressed. Nobody is owed an explanation of downvotes, but if someone asks for one on something I downvoted, I would reply if it hadn't already been adequately addressed by someone else. When a comment is partly greyed out, I'm almost certain to either upvote or downvote. If I think the downvotes are unfair, I will upvote, and if I think the comment should be hidden, I'll hasten the process. The point of downvoting is to keep the site as a useful resource, and that means downvoting when appropriate without spending an inordinate amount of time on it. Nobody has time to read every comment posted on HN.