[nesting]
The $0.01 that gets added on to everyone else's posts
That's not how it works. When rewards are redistributed other posts gain proportionately. So tamping down on the excesses at the top can make a real percentage-gain difference (likely at least 20-30% if enough Trending posts are brought down to size a bit) to posts earning a dollar or a few dollars. It likewise proportionately increases the power of smaller votes. It does not spread out as 0.01 per post across a thousand posts.
You are missing my point.
You said the following;
All other upvoted posts earn more? No. Not really. Definitely not enough worth mentioning. As you said, it is distributed according to current payout, so really the only people who benefit from it to any level of significance are the few top trending posts.
Speaking of the top trending post, it is your friend. A post that has concentrated whalevotes beyond belief, but I don't see your downvote on that one. And he benefited from you downvoting this post more than anyone else did, but surely that was not on your mind when you downvoted... Just a happy coincidence.
All other voters have more influence on deciding rewards? No. Not really. Definitely not for the 95% of voters who's upvote means absolutely nothing. Perhaps their vote might be able to add on a few cents to the trending posts... ie, your friend. But, to anyone else, their vote would have no effect.
So, no. Any time you downvote a post. You're not helping everyone. You are helping the top two or three trending posts. I should probably pay more attention to who is currently trending or heading there whenever you do downvote a post like this in future.