That’s totally inaccurate. When something doesn’t get downvoted nor upvoted, it will just slide down the new queue never to be seen again (unless you scroll down enough). When something gets upvoted it doesn’t mean it’s appreciated. It means the topic was relevant and informative. I’ve seen tons of users upvoting things they don’t really like but do so the content remains diverse enough. What most newcomers do is flood post memes and screenshots. It gets upvoted by the same users who turned voat into a mess. So blaming the downvote for it is incorrect. If you want to see more diverse content in all/hot, you guys should upvote more.