I understood this post to be an update about the situation and a place for discussion about the downvotes that are happening.
I just get the impression that you want to see the EIP and newsteem succeed and the trending page fixed. I didn't get the impression that you are worried or concerned.
I'm not too keen on following downvote trails. I actually am only trying to follow upvote trails of smaller curation projects, but I am sticking with OCD trail for now even though it's not small because I liked ocdb and I've been upvoting ocd posts for awhile.
I also downvote, but I don't really want to take on the big guys for obvious reasons, however, I would be willing to help out more targeted abuse.
It's a tough job and I admire your courage. Ignore the haters, you have much more support than opposition.