I think the voting system is fine, and should remain. In fact, I kind of like coming back to see what kind of vote activity my comment has received.
I don't really feel like it is widely abused or significantly weaponized. There are some users that consistently post what I would consider bad comments, and those people are subject to consistent down voting, as they (arguably) should be. I think that's really a benefit of voting.
I would not oppose separating up votes and down votes. In fact, I think I like that idea. As I mentioned, I like to see what kind of vote activity my comments receive. But, if I come back to a plus one or a minus one or something, I don't know if that's because it's gotten a lot of votes both ways, or because not very many people have cared enough to vote. Separating ups and downs would make the voting system more valuable to me, I think.
I haven't been paying as much attention lately. But, in years past, I often felt like this site was a bit too tight with the moderation. Trolling and shit talking are part of the deal in forums and social media. I don't think we should be trying to stop behavior that is normal.
There are some limits to how much should be tolerated, of course. And I want to make clear that I don't think the site is too bad with over moderating. It's just that I'd like to see it a bit looser (keep in mind that my opinion is based on observations over the past few years, and not so much the last several months).
I know there's some balance that has to be found. Banning people or otherwise discouraging them from posting is bad. But, allowing them to talk a bunch of shit that discourages other people from posting is also bad. It's a tough job for the mod team. I appreciate those that take on the task.
