I've said it before, but it's notoriously hard to determine which comments will be downvoted and which will be upvoted. I have seen almost the exact same sentiment on HN before (edit: upvoted, floating near the top of the thread), and it is very irritating when you try to contribute only to have someone out of an elite group of 500+ point people click that little button to grey out your comment.

Downvoting isn't helpful, it's a dirty little feature implemented to police certain opinions, usually via chilling effect. I upvoted GP.