It’s more just I do not have enough time. I cannot downvote someone, have very open dialogue with the person being downvoted, and then try to lead them out of it.

I can tell them why they are being downvoted by me. I can keep talking to them about it. But I can’t also fix it.

If I fix it, that’s just weird at best but at worst morally precarious.

I cannot tell someone what to do with their account. I can tell someone why I use my account the way I do.

I have a large stake, I am in a position where I can downvote while a small account cannot reasonably do so. Some small accounts do downvote sometimes and that’s encouraging when it happens. But it’s still very rare and honestly I’m not sure if I recommend it. But I’m not going to tell a small account not to downvote, they are using the protocol as intended, so good for them!

I do not agree downvotes are this big of deal. I think people make a big deal about it and it gets worse. I have never had an issue irl where it makes sense for people to bring up all their old baggage when something happens.

Each downvote case is unique. Some are straightforward and some are more complicated. This one is pretty complicated.

But just cause I have a “bad” experience with one downvote situation does not mean I will bring that baggage with me to the next downvote discussion.

I downvote some accounts and it is very productive. Usually it is not productive.

I’m not sure if this case was productive or unproductive… seems like a hybrid if anything 😆