You raise a fair point. Hiding downvotes could help avoid bandwagon negativity, as users may be less inclined to pile on additional downvotes. However, I still believe transparency should take priority over these concerns.

Showing the full picture - both upvotes and downvotes separately - allows users to more accurately judge content quality and community sentiment. I think we should trust users to make reasoned judgments, rather than hide data from them. A slight potential increase in negativity seems a small price to pay for maintaining transparency and accountability on Lemmy.

Edit: I do agree that displaying a relative percentage, as you mention, could serve as a compromise.