I’ve seen people use downvotes as “hide this”. I’ve seen for myself how easy it is to misvote by gesturing just a bit too far or while scrolling and you put your finger in the wrong spot.

There are a lot of explanations for them besides a dislike. Maybe it’s funny but not on topic. Maybe it’s well-written but they disagree. Maybe they agree but it’s poorly written.

Frankly if I’m getting <5% downvotes I just ignore them.