This method only works within your magazine, and will remove downvotes or upvotes on comments as well as posts.
To implement it, go to Magazine Panel -> Appearance, and enter the following in your CSS box to remove downvotes:
{span style="color:#323232;"}.vote__down { display: none !important; } {/span}
and/or for upvotes:
{span style="color:#323232;"}.vote__up { display: none !important; } {/span}
Example with downvotes removed : @13thFloor
Many thanks to @Anafroj for writing the original CSS code, and suggesting it as a way to combat trolls. Note this test shows that standard CSS works in Kbin, but you do have to replace <> with {} to get it to parse properly.
This isn't a perfect solution, but it should mitigate the amount of users that try to sink communities through downvote spam.
Dissent is absolutely ok. Reasoned, polite critique is more than welcomed.
Spam downvoting without commentary is not, as it adds nothing to the discussion, and just makes the poster feel bad about contributing. It's like walking into a gallery, taking a shit on a sculpture, then leaving without a word. No artist would willing show their work in a gallery that allowed that sort of behavior, unless it's Dada, but that's crap anyway for the most part IMHO.
This is the exact opposite of the forum's founding intentions, which is to encourage creativity and the expression of it.
This is the dynamic I observed when running a non-profit publishing site for a decade during the early internet - the best artists were often those most shy about showing their work, because the sensitivity that allowed them to create also made them vulnerable to negativity on a greater level than others. This became very true of our political artists - one fell afoul of the Turkish government for posting the aftereffects of a riot in Cyprus, and she was hounded off the site (and the site was targeted by Turkish hackers, which made my life hell for 3 years). I still think about her often, and hope she's ok.
That being said, I'm still undecided about making the change permanent, but I have noted (and respect) your opinion, and I will be posting a poll / comment thread in a bit here to see how other subscribers feel. You're welcome to participate if you so choose.
Side note - I'm glad you didn't notice anything - I did move quickly to remove the problematic individuals (who refused to stop their behavior after I contacted them directly, which is why they earned the bans).
Regarding "sinking" a forum, visibility of posts on various platforms is affected by downvotes (although not as badly as Reddit). Spam downvoting is way to attack a forum to try to ensure the posts of a new community never get traction, and thus don't build an audience.