You can't compare apples to oranges. Eliminating downvotes has to be inextricably tied to forgetting about the scammers completely and focusing only on the positive.

Imagine what Twitter would look like if everyone was obsessed with who was getting the most Likes. Well, there are, but they don't get any attention. But once you start telling them you're going to give them downvotes, look out!

You want people to focus on the positive, on real quality content, only give them positive tools. And who cares what a couple of chumps want to to with vote trading! What's more, if they've invested their own hard earned money and that's what they want to do, what's the problem with letting them do that? In their own corner where nobody sees them or cares about them while the rest of the community grows in the positive? But noooooo. They're "raping the rewards pool".

How stupidly childish can you get?