> But since a downvote is a punishment, often times people will second guess if they should post something interesting just in case it is taken the wrong way by

> But since a downvote is a punishment, often times people will second guess if they should post something interesting just in case it is taken the wrong way by someone. Yes. A thousand times yes. I finally had to create a second "alter ego" account just so I would stop censoring myself. I have ended up, as expected, getting a small number of downvotes and comment flags from people who simply didn't like what I had to say. Even when what I said was a factual summary backed by strong scientific evidence for which I provided citations (with only minimal opinion sprinkled in).