Downvotes aren't meant to be a "disagree" button, so I can't imagine flame wars would erupt unless they're misused.
And "stopping jerks" is not necessarily about managing mean behavior. When you have a vote-based content system reddit, snapzu, or voat, downvoting means that dissent often gets sidelined, even if it is honest and well-reasoned dissent. Back-and-forth often gets misinterpreted as argument, too, and suffers that same treatment. You can't have a conversation in that environment. It leads to the phenomenon of threads dominated by meta-discussions about how the hivemind or circlejerk is ruining the website -- often instead of discussing the topic at hand.
On the plus side if someone does go into a flame war of downvotes it will be completely clear who is doing it and the appropriate action can be taken such as banning the user or disabling the ability to downvote.
Downvotes aren't meant to be a "disagree" button, so I can't imagine flame wars would erupt unless they're misused.
And "stopping jerks" is not necessarily about managing mean behavior. When you have a vote-based content system reddit, snapzu, or voat, downvoting means that dissent often gets sidelined, even if it is honest and well-reasoned dissent. Back-and-forth often gets misinterpreted as argument, too, and suffers that same treatment. You can't have a conversation in that environment. It leads to the phenomenon of threads dominated by meta-discussions about how the hivemind or circlejerk is ruining the website -- often instead of discussing the topic at hand.
On the plus side if someone does go into a flame war of downvotes it will be completely clear who is doing it and the appropriate action can be taken such as banning the user or disabling the ability to downvote.