Grayed out, to me, about as often means that someone expressed an opinion, and others disagreed with that opinion. Or they tried to joke and it fell flat.

¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

You're downvoted here because others disagree that someone that is greyed out must have said something very wrong or worthless, but that's not a very wrong or worthless opinion. Only naive, perhaps.

I try to use downvotes rarely, and only for "egregiously contravened community guidelines" not "expressed opinion I strongly disagree with"

Keep participating! Downvotes (and flags) are not generally a big deal if your overall contribution is positive