I think he makes a great point here. The downvote has been rationalized until its supporters are blue in the face but the reality is simply that it is far too negative to work as intended. The user metrics basically speak for themselves. Very few want to endure the negativity even if there is money involved.

Remove downvotes, user activity will sky rocket, more people will come, the price of steem will go up, and steemit,inc will earn more ad revenue.