Single post in Removing Post Upvotes

I know how this sounds up front, and I know there's probably going to be very mixed opinions on this... but I'll do my best to explain how I think this will help the environment on the forums. It's been a topic of debate recently that the forums are unwelcoming, toxic, and full of arguments. This goes especially for news and announcement threads. People have a tendency to word things in a way that gets them the most "clout"-- which also tends to be very hostile in certain discussions. It's the same mentality that "ratioing" someone on Twitter has: post a nasty and snarky reply to someone and feel good about yourself when it gets more likes. I think that upvotes can still have good purposes and can be used respectfully in some places, which is why it's a shame that they can be abused in some situations as well. I would propose one of two actions: - Removing all upvotes outright or - Removing upvotes from all announcements threads, possibly suggestions replies (since this forum can be very unwelcoming too, but I think it's helpful for original posts), and keeping upvotes on other areas of the sites such as Journals, art threads, etc. If upvotes are removed in the Suggestions forum, there could also be a mandatory support/neutral/no support poll. Sometimes upvotes can also be handy in the Trades forums to let people know when their posts have been read, so there could also be a "read" function that you can flag to let the post author know that you've seen it. Feedback much appreciated; thank you!