Well, I think downvotes and upvotes are a helpful tool, but at the same time they can also affect the overall bonding of a community. For example, I wanted to upvote a post and couldn't because some random person downvoted my post without reason. While I understand that the system is supposed to allow people to let others know if a post is good or not, it can be really demotivating for the person who received a downgrade, especially if you want to upvote a post that someone else wrote and can't because someone pretty much destroyed the ability to do so. I don't think the whole system needs to be scrapped, but it would be helpful to be able to give someone an upvote even if they have a negative reputation.