I'm totally with you on this one - downvote is not meant as a "I disagree" button, but it is used that way which created the famous Reddit "hive mind" problem. So this has been a pretty peeve of mine for years. It is already creating the same problem here.
But unfortunately, we're tilting at windmills on this case, so I think we will just have to accept that this is the way it's going to be.