I think downvoting has its place -- for one, it facilitated different subs in creating separate cultures. I think it was a good system, that made for an experience I enjoyed more more than Twitter or Facebook where it appeared every jerk could feel they had triumphed with a few people hitting "like."

With that said, the costs of echo chambers are real, and the new attempts to push all dissenting ideas out of social media (both from corporate culture and "woke"-ism) has now made the risks higher than the rewards. Moldbug is right about how progressivism is a power grab, his concept of the cathedral. (Although if you want to see a hit piece on conservative culture, I've got that too).