EDIT: Maybe just for comments? Downvoats may still help with content quality control
There is some good in the concept of downvoating however in practice we've seen and continue to see the primary use a downvoat button will be an "I disagree with this person" button.
Removing downvoating entirely will not negatively impact the site. Misinformation will still be called out and not upvoated, spammers should be reported(hoping for that report button one day), ass holes will be called out, irrelevant posts and comments will be ignored/receive very few if any upvoats or get reported.
Removing the downvoat ability would also deal with any future issues with brigades, which was a big issue on that other place.
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[–] forbidden_arts ago
I'm just not sold on the idea of removing it, because honestly I don't really see the point.
If there's a sub that generates a massive amount of content and traffic, ignored posts would sink (almost) as fast as those being downvoated. If a sub doesn't have a lot, then obviously downvoats would have more of an impact, but that's useful when you have a tightly knitted group as a lot of small subs do.
I understand the argument you're making, and I think in certain instances it holds true, which is really why it should be decided by Mods and not by Admins.