I have to agree. Downvotes are there but they don't censor the comment outright, you still can see them (and IIRC you can still upvote or vouch if it has not died dead yet)
However I don't remember a comment that died that wasn't a crapfest.
Everybody gets downvoted sometimes, most of the times I was downvoted it was either because I failed to convey my thoughts correctly (well, sometimes I don't have the time or will to go into detail) or just ended up ranting. Opinionated comments (but worded ok) sometimes gets downvoted and that is fine.
However I don't remember a comment that died that wasn't a crapfest.
Everybody gets downvoted sometimes, most of the times I was downvoted it was either because I failed to convey my thoughts correctly (well, sometimes I don't have the time or will to go into detail) or just ended up ranting. Opinionated comments (but worded ok) sometimes gets downvoted and that is fine.