It's possible to disagree with an argument without losing respect for the person making it. You might, for instance, have a rare or specialized experience that

It's possible to disagree with an argument without losing respect for the person making it. You might, for instance, have a rare or specialized experience that would lead you to think differently from another person. Even if you know that person to be wrong, you wouldn't respond with a downvote. Not if their position was intelligent and stated in good faith. Reasonable people disagreeing, and all that. And then there are the idiots. Here, the downvote is less about disagreement per se, and more about a response to thought that is generally stupid and awful. What it says is that your opinion is so unworthy of consideration that it's simply being removed from circulation.