So they are disobeying the rule because the rule (or rather, the request to follow the rule) exists? If the OP hadn’t requested that people not downvote the main post, they wouldn’t have downvoted it as much?
In general, requests to not downvote are akin to “don’t register your disapproval of this.” I think most people generally disprove of requests to not register disapproval. Particularly because such requests are (likely) correlated with sub-par content.
That said, I think neutral karma discussions are an interesting idea. Trying to shield the OP itself from downvotes was a mistake.
So they are disobeying the rule because the rule (or rather, the request to follow the rule) exists? If the OP hadn’t requested that people not downvote the main post, they wouldn’t have downvoted it as much?
In general, requests to not downvote are akin to “don’t register your disapproval of this.” I think most people generally disprove of requests to not register disapproval. Particularly because such requests are (likely) correlated with sub-par content.
That said, I think neutral karma discussions are an interesting idea. Trying to shield the OP itself from downvotes was a mistake.