RE: Blurt is just weird

If you don't value your own posts by selfvoting then why should others?" is such a dumb statement it hurts,

I had a similar feeling reading this statement. It is funny and annoying at the same time.

Most of the time the authors will agree and I've seen the general sentiment of downvotes becoming better and more accepted here as long as they are used properly and carefully it is slowly becoming normalized.

If a downvote comes with an explanation, people are likely to understand it and improve. It is helpful for the ecosystem as whole. An even distribution of reward would bring more people in the system.
I have seen several people following trail and it has been long since they are active on hive. As long as they are getting the curation reward, they don't care whom the reward goes to. At least, the downvotes would alarm them to find out really deserving content writers.

Their solutions to these problems just sound dumb and sound way more like censorship than well used downvotes could ever be.

That's true. On hive it has been the personal choice of people to click the downvote or an upvote button. In the coal system it is like aristocracy. If they decide to mute someone no one else can support it.