Ask HN: Why Can't I Downvote Submissions?

I've been a registered user since 2010, but I haven't been active for the past six years (give or take).

I've recently had copious amounts of free time to catch up on everything, and when I logged back into HN I discovered my priviledges on the site had been rather severly curtailed.

My best guess is I've been pigeon-holed as a "troll" because some of my comments diverge from the hive-mind that used to -- and possibly still does -- make up the majority of the contributors to HN.

Just because I don't buy into the HN group-think doesn't mean I'm a troll, or that my opinion (read as: downvote) has no merit.

I haven't really wanted to downvote anything I've seen in the past nine months, but I feel a recent posting merits my downvote... but that's apparently not an option that's available to me.

Dunno. Maybe things have changed around here. But if I'm a long-time verified user of this site I would hope that my opinion -- even if it's a negative one -- would carry some kind of weight.