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The fastest way to get down voted is to reply to any post which is even slightly political with anything other than a leftist bent. (^:

In my opinion, down voting should require responding. If something is worthy of a down vote then surely it worthy of rebuttal as well.

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I feel this oft-repeated argument is a canard, whose strength is mostly from its repetition. One sign of such things is hyperbole such as "even slightly", "anything other than'. Hyperbole, to me, is a substitute for a lack of substantive argument. I recently posted something that is 'leftist' and I think it's down to -4 (which is fine).

I'd look at it serious if there was some data, however.

EDIT: De-inflammatorization

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