Thank you Anthony for a thorough explanation of the downvote mechanism. I am at age 52 days, and this is the first post I've come across that fully explains the reasoning behind the decision to downvote or not.

I liked your reference to protecting your own investment in Steem. Yes, honest hard-workers need to be protected from the fly-by-night thieves that just want to rape and pillage. In that regard, I now support - begrudgingly mind you! - the need for a decentralized system to self-regulate the uncontrollable aspects we get in any community. Not really policing, more like upholding community standards.

From what I have seen so far, Steem has become an e-city and soon will be an e-metropolis, perhaps our own version of e-Gotham?