great and interesting is that everyone knows if they're going to post something they better be ready to defend their ideas. I really believe this leads to better takes and better discussions.

So lame that people will be able to control, among other things, who can thumbs down them or not.

It's also really going to distort what people perceive to be the collective reaction to particular posts since we won't know who the OP has blocked.

The mods already prevent abuse and harassment that's over the line. Imo this is misguided overkill.