Have you created alternate accounts to post questionable responses?
makecheck: I have just one account.For me, it boils down to this: a goal of the site is to improve quality of discussion.There are two main parties to discussion: "you", and "everyone else".When "you" post: if you already suspect that your topic will earn down-votes, then why post it (from any account)?  Apparently the topic is not something interesting to this group.When "everyone else" down-votes: they have a responsibility to be smart, and not childish.  It's shallow to click the down-arrow simply for disagreeing with somebody or not liking them personally.  If there is a general feeling that down-votes are always for legitimate reason, I think people would be less likely to "hide" behind anonymous accounts.