Personally, the tone used in the comment can make a difference.
Also, I think many forget that there are many that have no idea about the internal politics and how everything works and for them it can be especially confusing when these hostile downvotes and comments come out of the blue.
Great post and "The Voice Of Reason" comes to mind.
thank you @whatsup... I was trying to catch perspective from both sides.
hostility to things is easy.. cooperation takes work.
Yeah, agreed. I've always been an advocate of downvoting, but I didn't really picture the gang wars. I should have known. :)
staying low and trying to change the topic as often as I can.