[PeterisP]

IMHO there is no "punishment" for dissenting views. If you post something that gets downvoted into oblivion, well, the only outcome is that the community refuses to engage with that post (which we should be free to choose) but it's not doing you any harm or preventing you from doing anything else in the future.

There's no real reason for self-censoring, if you think something may be reasonable, you can throw it at the community and then you'll know whether it's something we're willing to discuss; and if it gets "censored" and thrown out, well, it's no big deal.

[satisfice]

Downvoting is not “the community refuses to engage.” Downvoting means some people in the community specifically engaging to stop other people from engaging.

What non-engagement looks like is not voting.

The opposite is also a problem. Some of things that get upvoted are annoying to me.