So just going along, play-by-play in a sense, like we're all doing.

I'm getting close to five years on the block myself.

Witnesses, developers. That's all fine. Respected roles.

Over the years, from my perspective and based on the behavior I've witnessed along with the role I played, after this long, I doubt the usage of downvotes will ever match that original vision. Consensus. Majority of people, over the years, aren't using them for anything other than countering exploits and abuse not because they're doing something wrong. It's because that's how they'd prefer to see things. Attempting to normalize downvotes to coincide with that original vision is going against the flow. That's an observation, not an opinion. I'm not anti-downvote. I feel confident at this point pushing to 'normalize' downvotes to coincide with that original vision is a lost cause. It's hard to find someone who's being honest fully against downvotes being used as a tool to counter exploits and abuse. That's the way the world went. Probably worth looking at and reconsidering what downvotes are meant to be used for.