The problem, like I have bleated about many times before, all comes down to auto votes. If people used votes to upvote what they'd actually read, then no one could have any complaints.
Due to auto votes, many people play to the gallery and just churn out anything to get that daily or twice daily vote. The principals behind auto voting is sound, the application, due to 'human nature' is terrible.
At the end of the day, like it or not, this is a stake based community and I choose to accept that fact by my being here although there are many things I wish were a little different.
You mentioned @acidyo and @smooth. No one complains when they hand out big upvotes which in the case of @acidyo particularly are manually curated, every time and I can't think of anyone that hasn't at some point benefitted from his OCDB but get a big downvote and all hell breaks loose. Reward distribution matters because it encourages new people to join and have realistic expectations.
There isn't really an answer except that if you don't like something, then move to a place more in line with your personal beliefs, except no one will do that as it's doubtful they'd be rewarded as they are here!
Finally. at the end of the day, many people need to remember that it's thanks to a handful of people that Hive even exists and instead of whinging and feeling abused because of a downvote, try changing their pathetic, entitled attitudes into a position of gratitude for what they've had!
RE: The Downvote Debate : A complex issue in need of a complex solution