downvoting is toxic yea, but look at twitter for what happens when its not a thing, its just as bad if not worse in this direction, comments have no almost no coherency and trolls are incredibly rampant. on sites with downvoting like reddit the problem is somewhat less, but the hivemind effect takes root. theres really not many good solutions right now.

How about moderators and the ability to ban? I understand it might not be economically sound.