I'm curious why downvoting feels painful or frustrating. Perhaps I'm majorly naive. When I post a comment in HN, I sometimes feel a twinge of nervousness, since

I'm curious why downvoting feels painful or frustrating. Perhaps I'm majorly naive. When I post a comment in HN, I sometimes feel a twinge of nervousness, since I'm not attempting any level of anonymity and I'm aware that some people have strong opinions, sometimes become personal, and cancel culture is a thing, but at the end of the day, if I'm downvoted, it's only a comment on the internet, not something about which I feel personally judged. People are entitled to their opinions, I'm not attached to them agreeing. Sometimes, after I write something, I think, 'I could have phrased that more effectively' and sometimes I even change my mind based on someone else's more informed points. This is why I engage in discussion, not to be right, but to explore things I'm interested in and to learn. I appreciate downvoting in an environment like HN, where usually it seems to be wielded in service of better conversation, but I also have seen it used to push down voices that might be simply passionate. There is a certain hegemony that may be enforced by downvotes. ("Why is THIS on HN?" is a clue). Still, there's an amazing level of thoughtful moderation, and I prefer to notice the culture from a slightly sociological perspective rather than thinking it needs to change by fiat, and make my small contributions from a slightly different perspective. I don't comment on things that feel emotional to me, and sometimes things make me frustrated. I think downvoting is actually a good tool- however, I hope someone will educate me here.