If you don't care what people think, ignore them. If you do care, why would you want to pretend they only think nice things?

I'm pretty sure we could make a user script that hides all your negative votes, so when you log in you see only a rose-filtered version of Questionland where everyone seems to like you. I mean, why not?

Good question. I think they haven't quite implemented all the features that will take advantage of the up/down count. I think it will be useful..

Up-voting alone would be enough to identify favorites, yes, but down-voting is also useful feedback. If a question was 0-0, how would the author know whether people didn't like it, or just that no one saw it?

If your questions/answers get down-voted a lot, you should realize that you're doing something wrong and either STFU or stop sucking.

I think right now the downvoting is annoying because there are (so far) few people using Questionland. So a completely innocuous, or even good, question or answer can get unfairly downgraded because someone's being a jackass.

Once the system becomes more popular, I think it'll get evened out more. Truly helpful or interesting contributions will have dozens of upvotes and only one or two downvotes.

Eh, l don't much care. l don't get why a useful question or answer might get a down vote when l see nothing offensive or insulting in that individual's contribution. l'm guessing there's one particular poster with a grudge that thumbs down everything l post no matter how helpful or unhelpful it might be. Were my self-esteem based on my generally steady 50-50 rating, l'd probably be a wreck right now.

l rarely give a thumbs down; it has to be really nasty or unnecessary to get one from me. So if it were only positive voting, not much would change in my voting habits. But l can see why some might find a thumbs down useful. Really, it just seems to be a popularity system, as one's newly added "reputation" relies their votes.

A thumbs down on an Answer that is incorrect, off-topic, or otherwise shitty is useful feedback.

However, I'm not sure there's a benefit to rating a Question either up or down.

A positive-only system would work on Questionland only if it were initially introduced here. To suddenly take away only the thumbs-downs would come off as disingenuous. So my immediate answer to Marty is: no.

Now the TL;DR answer... lol.

Marty's question is a great one! One site that does a positive-only rating is 43places.com. Their concept involves "Cheers" which applies to entries, questions, answers, and pictures. It does really change the dynamic in that people rarely "cheer" posts, but occasionally some do get a small number of Cheers, and these get bumped up in the view ratings more prominently.

However, the mission and target culture of 43places is different than that of Questionland. People at the former site either give informative replies or don't reply at all.

Here, since the mission is based on just questions, there's a lot more text, so for one to wade through a number of entries, there are advantages to having positive and negative points. Primarily, one who excels in one or the other tells you a lot about that person's reputation.

No.

Even though the potential for abuse is definitely there (I got 20 thumbs down from one person who was pissed at me), thumbs-down voting is a good way to zero in on what people are looking for in Questionland. When the thumb-down is used legitimately, you can see at a glance which questions and answers are least helpful. Some safeguards might be in order, i.e. limiting how long a question or answer can receive ratings, to keep people from going back and vindictively thumbing, and making sure that each person can only rate a question or answer one time.

Like freikja, I also rarely give thumbs down. I get why it's there (and I appreciate that it's there for those who use it), but I don't think it's absolutely necessary. I'm not insulted by thumbs down votes either, though, so I don't mind if it sticks around. Maybe someone someday will ask a question I really don't want to be asked! It's nice to have the option.

Why do people get so jacked out of shape if ANYONE should happen to click a thumbs down. It's not like it means anything...
I take it just as a general reaction by the reading public to the topic, or my take on it.

No way. Everybody needs to be cut down from time to time. Keep those semi-anonymous egos in check.