In aggregate downvoted posts are practically always low-effort (or sometimes just really unhinged or otherwise patently wrong), so I'm not convinced that downvotes being used unkindly is a big problem.
I’m definitely happy that there’s minimum Karma for downvotes, but how does it prevent hive-mind downvoting?
If I was wrong, your response does not elucidate why, in fact let me quote bits back to you "soft conspiracy" ... "very little evidence"[0] ... "a vague sense of wrongness"
Well maybe but your post has less substance than mine.
[0] you didn't ask for any BTW
Imagine if a large corporation bought ~50 old accounts and spoofed different computers/browsers. Only 5 votes is needed to hide a post.
Controlling the narrative is almost trivial if you can spend mere thousands of dollars.