Several years ago, I started treating downvotes as feedback on what I wrote. Maybe I was not clear in stating my view. Maybe I did not sufficiently back my view up with examples, facts or rationales. Maybe what I wrote was just plain wrong. Maybe what I wrote didn't add anything to the conversation.

The practice of editing [and deleting] of my comments seems to have made my writing better. Writing for myself is easier than writing for an audience. And writing for an audience that expects me to give a shit is harder than writing for the audience that admires people for pretending to not give a shit. And no doubt, this thread illustrates -- as if the rest of the internet did not already provide overwhelming evidence -- that there is a large audience for writing that pretends not to give a shit.

Flame warriors and trolls are the original internet crowd. Not giving a shit is not a unique point of view. It's the default content of all the little internet boxes into which people can type. It's good that downvotes hurt because the solution is writing something better.

Good luck.