My mental model of downvote systems is that systems without them allow more diverse thoughts. Imagine a topic where everyone feels compelled to vote, skewed ab

My mental model of downvote systems is that systems without them allow more diverse thoughts. Imagine a topic where everyone feels compelled to vote, skewed about 51% to 49%. Without downvotes, your top comments are going to be a mix of both sides. Opinions are about 50-50 and comments will look like that. It will feel frustrating, like in the article, because you see about half of these posts from those evil Others, and have no way to disagree aside from commenting. With downvotes, the 51% side’s score becomes 51-49=+2, and the 49% side’s score becomes 49-51=-2; below a never-read comment at zero! All the top comments are from the (slim) majority, making it feel like a strong consensus, when it isn’t. It will feel better to that 51%. Who knows what the 49% will do. Leave? Of course it’s never exactly as straightforward as that, but that’s the tendency. I like systems without downvotes because what you’re likely to see more proportionally reflects the diversity of opinions of the others on the site.