I don't know why spezzit removed the ability to see visible downvotes. It was an instructive part of the core experience for many years. Today, if you see a comment at -5 you think people must hate it, but in the old days that comment would show up as say 50 / 55 and it would be clear it was a controversial comment rather than wholly reviled. Removing downvotes, removes contextual nuance of the group reaction, which accelerates more downvoting leading to groupthink rather than conversations.