downvotes REALLY bother me. why it bothers me personally: i have severe mental health issues (to the point of disability). due to how i grew up, i heavily internalized being and accepting that i'm always bad and horrible and wrong and punishing myself for it. when i get criticized or downvoted - even if it's silly - i feel HORRIBLE, because obviously i MUST'VE done something VERY BAD and VERY WRONG and i must be PUNISHED and i must CORRECT. and it's even more frustrating when i don't know what to correct. bonus, i have autism and adhd, so i can say things considered "wrong" and not know why, but people won't explain it to me because apparently i should magically know. and i don't want to be a bad person, but now i'm suddenly a bad person and i don't know what to do about it.

this is just ME. i don't think it applies to most people. and inb4 "bruh it's just a downvote, it's not that deep, touch grass" AGREED. BIG AGREE. but if you understand anything about psychology, it can take a very long time to undo stuff that's so deeply ingrained from childhood, if it can be undone at all. i have actually heavily improved in this area in terms of recognizing i'm not necessarily wrong and rarely need to be punished, but the emotional reaction sadly has not changed much.

also, some (not all) people just seem to use downvotes as a personal attack, and that's just annoying as hell. i think people can relate to this much more.

i try hard not to downvote, because i don't think it's necessary most of the time. people seem to downvote the silliest things...