I see that downvote nonsense going on and thought that might be the case. I'm sorry you're on the receiving end of it...

I feel conflicted about it, to be honest. It’s a tough choice because by self-downvoting, I’m also reducing the curation rewards of those who support me. That’s why I’m trying my best to add more value to my posts by including research whenever I have extra time.

And yeah, it feels like some downvoters are taking the easy route... just targeting posts they believe are over-rewarded. Maybe it gives them a sense of doing good for the platform, like a pat on the back. But if they truly care about fair downvoting, there are real abuses they could focus on (like the ones you mentioned).

That said, dealing with actual abuse on the platform is no easy task. And it's also tricky to expect whale downvoters to handle it all. It might be asking too much to expect them to actively fight plagiarism or spam, especially if they lack the time or resources to do so. 😓