I often hold back when I don't feel like my commentary adds value to the conversation, regardless of how strongly I feel about a subject. I fear such a system m

I often hold back when I don't feel like my commentary adds value to the conversation, regardless of how strongly I feel about a subject. I fear such a system may encourage commenting for it's own sake - as long as I keep it palatable, I shouldn't get any downvotes and I'd keep my default "1" (low volatility), unless I say something downright stupid. Another issue - more with the system itself, independent of any formula - lies in the very subjective nature of voting. I personally would not likely upvote a comment I disagree with, no matter how carefully thought out and presented. But I probably wouldn't downvote it either, unless I felt it was made in bad taste. Perhaps a more effective system would only take into account downvotes cast, since standards of what constitute poor form seem, IMO, to be fairly consistent around here. Just a thought you may want to look into. Also, could be just me, but I found your notation a little confusing, where you've used x as a superscript.