They will absolutely try to force the paid feature on you. How many times have you seen the youtube premium prompt?

Maybe it’s on a different account but at least on this account I don’t see any posts on your profile that are in the negative.

I find it interesting how posts like these only pop up asking about downvotes, never upvotes. Does this “hivemind” only do things you don’t like? Is it in the room with us right now?

People have no obligation to interact with anything in any way. There are people who downvote just to make the post go away in some apps. Stop worrying yourself with what gets points. If it’s that big of an issue, sign up with beehaw, afaik they don’t do downvotes at all.