Here, downvoting is the analogue of armed guards beating one up.
Wouldn’t that analogue better apply to publicly and personally insulting the poster, targeting your verbal abuse at the very attributes that this community holds dear, deleting posts and threatening banning? Although I suppose your analogous scale could be extended in scope to include ‘imprisonment and torture without trial’.
On the topic of the immediate context I do hope that you consider thomblakes position and make an exception to your usual policy in his case. I imagine it would be extremely frustrating for you to treat others with what you consider to be respect and courtesy when you know that the recipient does not grant you the same right. It would jar with my preference for symmetry if I thought you didn’t feel free to implement a downvote friendly voting policy at least on a case by case basis. I wouldn’t consider you to be inconsistent, and definitely not hypocritical. I would consider you sane.
Wouldn’t that analogue better apply to publicly and personally insulting the poster, targeting your verbal abuse at the very attributes that this community holds dear, deleting posts and threatening banning? Although I suppose your analogous scale could be extended in scope to include ‘imprisonment and torture without trial’.
On the topic of the immediate context I do hope that you consider thomblakes position and make an exception to your usual policy in his case. I imagine it would be extremely frustrating for you to treat others with what you consider to be respect and courtesy when you know that the recipient does not grant you the same right. It would jar with my preference for symmetry if I thought you didn’t feel free to implement a downvote friendly voting policy at least on a case by case basis. I wouldn’t consider you to be inconsistent, and definitely not hypocritical. I would consider you sane.