It’s a trope and easy to say but I do find the voting system in HN to have gone downhill over the years. It’s very similar to other social media sites. People are polarized about everything, if you have a different opinion, downvoted, if you have a response that might be factual but one of the professional posters here does not like it or you, downvoted.
I will make a benign question and it will instantly get downvoted which to me is against the spirit of HN.