overall I think downvotes are a good part of the Hive ecosystem as long as their not used by bullies. Some time back I caused a bit of drama myself by asking if it is okay to upvote one's own posts since I used to do that. The feedback favored the opinion that it should not be done and so I changed that and the downvotes I was getting stopped. I actually think that was a good experience overall. It just sucks when it feels that there is no reason and one's account is too small to have any leverage. I know of a few users who are affected by that.