I don't think I've ever seen anything, no matter how bad, go below -5, and most don't go below -1. Once a question is downvoted: - it's less likely that the qu

I don't think I've ever seen anything, no matter how bad, go below -5, and most don't go below -1. Once a question is downvoted: - it's less likely that the question even gets shown - it's less likely that people will even click on it - it's less likely that people who think it's bad will bother to vote on it, since the votes are already doing the right thing - if it's really bad, it will be marked for deletion before it gets that many downvotes anyway SO has its problems but I don't even recognize half the things people complain about.