I feel like this is potentially at the core of the whole issue, because this is not all my experience with downvoted comments (mine or others'). Do some people really think some comments are bad whereas others think they're at least decent, or even good? I'm repeating myself, but a lot of the time (much more than the remaining 5% of the time), the downvotes don't really seem to correlate much, if at all, with the quality of the comment. Still, a lot of people here seem to think comments get downvoted essentially for being bad, whereas others don't find that to be the case all that often. Personally I find that curious.

I'm sure that there are some legitimate differences of opinion regarding comment quality.  As to how significant those differences are, I have no idea.  

Some of it is probably stuff where someone comes into an article about PS and talks about XBox, for example.  Their comment may be constructive and well written, but some people may feel like it just doesn't belong there.  Others may think it is fine.  I'd say that's a legitimate difference of opinion.  

Similarly, there are probably legit differences of opinion about what is or is not on-topic.  

My perception is that there are more than 5% of cases where the downvotes don't seem to align with comment quality or questionable placement.  However, I had never really given this much thought until the last day or so.  So, I don't really trust my own perception at this point.  That's a big part of the reason that I prefer taking no action at this time. The issue has been  brought forward  for all of us. Let's now take some time, pay some attention, and get our heads around how widespread and serious of an issue this actually is. This isn't a life or death issue that must be addressed today or the site will cease to exist. Let's take our time and see what, if anything, really needs to be done. 

Also, those of us with supporter status that could theoretically be amplifying abuse of the system might now think more carefully about how we use our extra voting power.   I think it is within the realm of possibility that the problem, assuming that there really is one, will take care of itself.  I wouldn't bet on that, but I think the odds are far greater than zero. 

I agree with much of the rest of your post as well, but especially this part caught my eye. How many people even have a proper overall view of what's happening in the comment sections of the articles? I know I don't read even nearly all the articles, so there's a lot of room for perception bias. I imagine it's the same for a lot of people. Additionally, like you said, there's also room for difference in how the quality of comments is evaluated by different people. 'Good' times if you really want to get to the bottom of this!

IDGAF if I was downvoted. That films trailer literally reminds me of early 2000s films. If it had the 2 tropes I mentioned it would be a full-on film from 2002-2003 . The early 2000s are not a good era in pop culture. The film looks bad and dated. I'm not an Uncharted fan but I do watch films. You want your film to please fans and nonfans to entice more people to become fans. This film did not entice me to see it but to ignore it. I feel Sony fans are the most sensitive bunch, Sorry guys, the film looks shit. Call it childish and downvote. I won't lose sleep.

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!! Had to say that since this my first post of 2022. Anyway...

This subject gets revisited every so often and my opinion remains unchanged: I don't really see the policy as a big deal one way or the other, but personally I dislike down-voting, mainly because my comments often get down-voted, seemingly because I often offer nuanced views about things and that's way too independent a thought pattern for most people. Either that or I dared write with more feeling than an Amazon Alexa response. It's discouraging because I tend to put a lot of effort into my contributions for them to just be lazily swatted down and stigmatized with the click of a button. Detractors should have to put more effort into their gripes than that, I feel. But then maybe there wouldn't be so many of those because most people are too lazy to actually explain why they object, especially if it involves writing more than one or two sentences.

I don't feel like I fit in very well as things are, so the unfortunate truth is that I become discouraged easily. Half the time if I see a down-vote by a comment I made, I'll just delete the comment to avoid the impending, humiliating pile-on that may hurt my reputation on the main forums as well, to say nothing of frankly my soul. And them maybe I'll think two or three times before offering another opinion on an article in the future. Maybe other people with higher self-esteem than me respond differently, but that's how it often goes for me.

There's surely a reason why down-voting ain't an option here on the main forums. I don't see why there's a divergence in the policy that way. Makes no sense to me.

Most downvotes are just because you grabbed somebody's attention.  The same goes for the upvotes.  Sometimes you just have to kick back, ...and enjoy it.

Maybe that's how people with higher self-esteem are inclined to respond, but I can't help getting discouraged, besides which I simply lack the energy to bother half the time these days. I mean it's an anonymous down-vote; what's there to respond to? It's not like the other person offered a counterpoint or something. It's also not like most people are persuadable anyway, and least of all the kind of lazy asshole who goes around throwing those out anonymously (it usually happens in waves, in my observation, with people going through and down-voting everyone who criticized company A or something like that) and then just vanishes.

I'd at least like to know WHO is doing the down-voting because if it's certain people then I won't care. I don't hold everyone here in equal esteem and will have an easier time disregarding certain people's negative opinions.

You already know who is voting which way. Don't let it bother you.  Record and archive it for future reference and future arguments.  

Is anyone able to speak to the technical feasibility of making the names associated with up/downvotes visible? If so, I'd like to hear how big of a deal that is.

Removing downvotes sounds good. Or leaving them but making them public, so we can see who is downvoting everything for console warz and mock them accordingly.