downvotes are whatever you think they are for

agreed. they are subjective by design, occasionally accompanied by objective constraints like community rules” that attempt to guide how members deploy their downvotes. Sometimes rules work, sometimes they don’t.

which is why it’s totally random

disagree. They’re noisy, and hard to interpret, but they aren’t random. Something motivates a person (or bot, for that matter) to click the button when they could just as easily not.

and shouldn’t be taken serious

disagree here too, though this one is more a question of taste. I am so curious about what makes people act the way they do on the internet. Especially the meanies; the behavior of jerks on the internet is so puzzling to me, but I don’t think it’s impossible to understand better. Part of understanding it better is treating it as a subject worthy of serious inquiry, whether or not it deserves it.

there is no definite rule on them in an open global platform

agreed again, which is part of what makes them so tough to generalize about. There are definitely common patterns though.