I'll never forget my first downvote... devastating at the time but thankfully it was only because I was following or voting for someone that they didn't like. I got caught in the cross-fire, so to speak.
Overall, my experience here has been very positive and I've made some great friends.
My advice for new-comers (when you truly haven't done anything on the naughty list!) is don't take it personally. It's not necessarily a personal attack, sometimes it is just a difference of opinion, and everyone is entitled to an opinion after all.
I think that's a good lesson for life, right? Don't take stuff personally. It's very rarely about us, that's for sure! I'm with you on the positive side of this place - that's what we need to focus on. Just sometimes we're hard wired to spend far too much atteniton on the negative.