Threads rely on posts/images to get bumped to the front page. Not bumping a thread is therefore a passive downvote because other threads are being bumped while

Threads rely on posts/images to get bumped to the front page. Not bumping a thread is therefore a passive downvote because other threads are being bumped while the saged thread isn't. Technically it isn't a downvote though, there is an actual way to do so (called 'hiding the thread').