Belief in Downvoting seems to be an artifact of idealistic naivete (that I used to have as well), in the same way as enthusiastic, unquestioning belief in the w

Belief in Downvoting seems to be an artifact of idealistic naivete (that I used to have as well), in the same way as enthusiastic, unquestioning belief in the writings of Ayn Rand, Karl Marx etc (not calling anyone out, everyone was a teenager once). Downvotes SEEM good on paper. In the real world, they're garbage because they're never used as intended. Nearly every implementation of downvotes assumes they will be used as a way for ordinary users to moderate bad content, and that this power will not be abused. The reality is that we've known mob rule was a terrible idea since at least the Enlightenment era, and probably much earlier. But apparently we need to keep re-discovering it. There is a certain kind of person that mostly likes to attack and destroy, in any given situation. Not for any good reason, but simply because they like conflict. Give them a downvote, and they'll latch on to it and destroy communities. Give them only an upvote and they'll lose interest and go cause problems somewhere else. Moderation is for moderators. Users cannot, and should not, be trusted with it.