Downvotes are an incredible mechanism to fight plagiarism, it's a shame to be so misused.
Thanks for sharing.
!1UP
I wouldn't say they are greatly misused. The abuse thus far has been relatively rare.
My problem is not with current abuse. My problem is with the clear potential for future abuse and with the way such abuse can be easily targeted toward ideas and ideologies. The potential for ideological downvote abuse is very real and would represent a PR nightmare that could prove fatal to the future growth of the platform.
Currently they are rarely misused. History has shown they are rarely misused. Future is likely the same. In the extreme rare case it becomes a problem, the community already has a built-in solution already available to them.
It's a moot issue, it's like building a metal wall surrounding your house in case someone throws a watermelon at your house.
Given my current situation that says a lot I still believe in it.
I'm relatively new to hive but some older people I've talked to say that some whales have created downvotes lists of everyone who received votes from certain accounts for example. Luckily I never went through that. This fear of yours is very real, let's hope that doesn't happen because it would really harm the ecosystem.