It's not a perfect solution to dealing with misanthropes.
But it would slow them some, and force a little balance into their painful existence.
could also induce undesirable effects like alt-creation
Can't create a problem that already exists.
not create rules with unclear benefits.
What's 'unclear'?
The inability to downvote when in the negatives has a pretty clear benefit.
If someone wants to use their one account to downvote what they don't like, and not upvote much at all - I don't see a real problem with that.
You're probably alone there.
If they create a bucket-load of alts and start downvoting things, that's a problem
What do you think is happening? And if you've no idea, then why are you talking?
if we casually start restricting the freedoms of some accounts.
Do you really think locking a negative account from more downvotes is 'casually .. restricting the freedoms'?
I think you're just being contrarian.
could also induce undesirable effects like alt-creation
Can't create a problem that already exists.
Problems are not just things that exist in binary states, they can be minimized by smart behavior or exacerbated by dumb choices.
not create rules with unclear benefits.
What's 'unclear'? The inability to downvote when in the negatives has a pretty clear benefit.
You're not very convincing.
Sure it would probably slow them down, but could also induce undesirable effects like alt-creation with circlejerks. I would rather not create rules with unclear benefits.
If someone wants to use their one account to downvote what they don't like, and not upvote much at all - I don't see a real problem with that. If they create a bucket-load of alts and start downvoting things, that's a problem: one that becomes more likely if we casually start restricting the freedoms of some accounts.