Here is how to make Phuks a popular site

Downvotes are necessary for post sorting. Without them, the site turns into Facebook with shit content everywhere because the only feedback everyone gets is positive.

we're not trying to make it into anything yet, we still have a lot of work to do for functionality sake. We decided early on not to post to reddit.

you didnt even mention how great it is to be run by the community, all code is public before live, we dont use google ads or analytics or any shitty malware so your histroy and search patterns arent being tracked by goog/govt, or that we dont have to sell user info to advertisers to pay the bills. It's not all about the votes.

What a coincidence, the user with 3 subs promoting products is now afraid of downvotes.

Down votes are useful to sink spam.

Removing the downvote may work while the site is still small, but it will quickly break-down if the site grows.
A new queue that gets filled rapidly needs downvotes for quick sorting. When the queue gets jammed up with spam and garbage, less people will go through it, leading to less sorting, a vicious circle.
Downvotes clear the clutter, resulting in a better moving queue, garbage disappears quicker, and less good stuff slips past.

Of course they do have a downside as well. The admins may be open to changes in how it works, but I don't see the downvote going away altogether.
In my experience modding on larger sites like Voat and Reddit, the new queue is probably the most important process in a site like this, and the downvote is vital for it to operate efficiently.