I feel like anonymous downvoting would be another can of worms to deal with but, I absolutely agree with you @sepracore, that minnows do not use downvoting because of the fear of retaliation and having witnessed whales unleash bot downvoting platoons on minnows who crossed them (whether on purpose or sometimes even accidentally or unknowingly).

The downvoting tool (as it currently exists) is the chief reason why Steemit is not my favorite platform to share.