Downvoting isn't neccessary really, facebook once considered adding the dislike button ( same like downvote button) but they found it offensive according to their survey results. If steemit must go mainstream and take over centralised social communities, it needs more of community building which is built on tolerance, love and selfless people.

Reddit which steemit was modelled after has downvote button, reddit users have horrible expereince with downvote button. Also we should take into account how whales with huge steem power can misuse such downvote button, the flag button is doing a great damage to some people already. 

But what do i know.

Realtalk! Can't be scared to let people know how you feel!

no i don't think down voting is needed. 
consider not voting = down voting. 
i hated negative marks in school :p

It creates negative impact to the community. It creates conflict and anger...unless, dislikes notification is hidden. One reason why other socializing sites removed dislikes button? Not a good idea to have it.

Im pretty new, i didn't knew about this. Thanks for the post

Anyone know the whole intent of the 'downvote'?
Was it for protection from spammers and scammers?
Can getting in a downvoting war get people banned?

Good post, man!
Thanks for sharing a positive way to utilize the downvote!

Daily Horoscope
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SO WHAT YOUR SAYING IS THAT I SHOULD DOWN VOTE NOW ????LOL

Very valid points. Scammers for sure. I would also say down vote the porn and obvious plagiarism. 
Keep steemit quality.

I like it! Maybe there should be a list the way top posts get listed? Does this already exist?

Downvote is only required very rarely as people are very cautious before doing any scam or spam, as reputation has a great value here at Steemit. If anyone looking at Steemit for long-term, then they would never think of doing anything wrong willingly.

When I was new, without realizing, but doing it just to test vote, no vote, then immediately back to vote right away... it did probably hurt my reputation. I never intended to remove the vote, I just was testing the permanence of the blockchain. Well, it lets you do whatever you want, but it records it all on the blockchain. Can someone clarify if a downvote is same as a flag? One you hit the arrow, the other you hit the flag.

This is the exact reason why I'm afraid to downvote. It's hard enough to make it here as a newbie without enemies.

>There have been  many post and comments where I felt a downvote was needed but never acted on it.  I guess I feel the same fear any other user feels.  No one wants to be that "GUY or GIRL" that becomes the single downvoter.  Most people are afraid of getting targeted by other users with greater Steem Power.  I myself do not have a huge amount of SteemPower and I will be the first to admit that I am scared of getting into a downvoting war with another user.

I see the downvote more of a way for the community to regulate itself. As Steemit grows bigger, there will be a greater chance for posts and comments to be "downvote worthy." In that sense, I think the downvote would be necessary too.

True the downvote is really necessairy

I agree! We must downvote more.

If I smell or see a steembot like cheetah notices it''s copy paste or when the content is too poor and or old news I flag always

People cannot fear what is right... I'm with ya boss :)

I didn't know "down voting" existed!!

So true

I think flagging is only necessary for malicious or plagiarized content. Free speech is important, so I think it shouldn't be abused or used as a tool to bully someone, that a person doesn't like. Like people that use flagging bots.

Even people you trust, can accidentally compromise your information. You should still be cautious.