“Do folks in here are really that needy of self-validation, even if it means seeking such from something completely insignificant like internet points?”
But… is that not exactly the description of somebody who complains about downvotes?? As said by others; they should be considered exactly as valid as upvotes. If you feel like they prohibit you from voicing an opinion, I personally feel like that is a you-problem. Ask yourself of the content you posted is crap, if you feel it is not, simply ignore the downvotes and move on, they are just pixels.
Edit: I checked your posts, most downvoted ones seem to be clickbaity or images that you posted to the linux community. This is not something that vibes with that type of community, I would have downvoted that too. The ones on your technical questions seem unjustified however. Posting a code snippet asking people to execute it… I think that crap should even have been deleted by mods.