Are there situations in which a low-quality answer should not be downvoted?

Question

Scenario 1

• I see a high-quality answer by userB
• I visit userB's profile and view their other answers
• I vote accordingly
• UserB gets a lot of upvotes in a short period of time
• The end

Scenario 2

• I see a low-quality answer by UserY
• I visit UserY's profile and view their other answers
• I vote accordingly
• UserY gets a lot of downvotes in a short period of time
• SE bot detects targeting and undoes my votes
• I create a question for it and get accused of being 'on a slippery slope' by other meta users

In reading the responses to my last question, it seems to be the general consensus that just the fact that I decided to view all of UserY's answers means that I am 'targeting' that user.

Am I using SE incorrectly?

I do not understand what the point of downvoting is if I'm being discouraged from downvoting low-quality answers.

Answer 1

"it seems to be the general consensus that just the fact that I decided to view all of UserY's answers means that I am 'targeting' that user"

By your own admission, you are. The question seems to be if that's a bad thing.

Look, the automated systems got triggered, and the trigger was not wrong. I am not sure where the threshold is, but at some point, you crossed it, regardless of your justification. I, as a mod, can't change that for you.

My advice is similar to what others have said: If you naturally come across things you want to downvote, go ahead. But to purposely seek out one users answers and downvote in a large block, you are going to trigger the automated systems. It does not mean that your votes are unwarranted, it's simply that an automated system got triggered.

I would not read too much into the event.