I sometimes post news articles that examine possible problems in society. Some may agree with the author, some may disagree. I often see these posts being downvoted if many disagree with the author.
Why do you downvote the post instead of commenting to express your disagreement?
As far as I understand, the idea is to upvote the post to spur conversation and comment to express your agreement or disagreement. Or did I misunderstand something?
To me, a downvote on a posted article suggests it doesn’t belong where it was posted, or the article is itself bogus, something along those lines. But (again, in my opinion) comments are fair game for downvotes if you disagree, and I will also do so if I disagree vehemently. But if you don’t want to actually add something to the discussion, no vote is really needed. Maybe you ultimately disagree with a post or comment, but it gave you something to think about? If so, the comment contributed positively to the discussion.