• Nah, down voting has a purpose that’s totally uncoupled from that.

    It changes visibility in some sorting methods. This can serve as a way to filter out bad actors, bad actors trolling, and outright nutters.

    It also serves as a partial safety valve. A lot of assholes are lazy assholes, and having them able to vote without interacting further is a very good thing.

    Besides, nobody is obligated to engage at any specific level. Voting is a perfectly valid tier of interaction all its own.