I am all for forgiving people if they stop abusing Hive and show they can be a part of the community. It is not about agreeing with their opinions. I would love to see more people come back. Unfortunately some people hold grudges and will not forgive. I am not like that at all.

Downvotes are essential to control the real abuse. There is loads of that going on that most people don't see. Scammers can set up networks of accounts that vote each other and cream off a fair bit for no effort if they automate it. They can use 'AI' tools to generate fake content.