[allana]

Downvoting (from what I gather) is supposed to be used not as a disagree button, but rather as a tool when a comment doesn't add value to a conversation, hence why downvotes are so restricted on HN.

[EpicEng]

This is completely wrong.

dang - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17996858

PG - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=392347

Downvoting as a tool to show disagreement has always been standard practice here. Mini-modding on the other hand...

[downandout]

I think you have a misunderstanding of this issue. If that’s the case, essentially every downvote I have ever received was an “abuse” of the feature.