I will get to this later, but I think the renaming and positioning wasn't to encourage more downvotes but rather to normalize the convention. I think the suggestion for discounted downvotes is what is needed for an increase.
Thanks for the analysis.
The general sentiment about downvotes is still negative.
https://steemit.com/steem/@therealwolf/it-s-okay-to-downvote
Once we got discounted downvotes and people start using them more, I hope others will get used to it.
Yes fair enough, 'normalize the convention' :)
Agreed. How much for 'free' though?
I am not sure but I would say that 10-20% would be a pretty good indicator of how it performs in the wild.