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I have noticed this too and have a humble suggestion: down-votes should require a comment from the down-voter. This would have the following advantages:

- The extra effort will slow down causal unthoughtful down-votes.

- If there is no justification, the down-voter can be down-voted in turn presumably by a greater degree.

- Any pattern of abuse can easily be seen in user profiles.

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I like advantages (1) and (3). I have a bad feeling about (2), however. And there is one immediate disadvantage I can think of: the required comments for down-voting would dilute the average karma, which is important for some people.

One solution is to treat comments that explain down-votes differently than normal comments. That would complicate the system a bit but maybe it will be worth it.

Another advantage would be better feedback for the downvoted. Don't knowing why I was downvoted routinely drives me nuts.

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