The promotion of assuming motivation is the problem. The judgement for a benign action is the problem.

If you say, "downvoting is benign" then I say: Pay attention to first offense. Responding negatively to negative stimulus is INFINITELY more justifiable than spontaneously creating negativity, like judging someone harshly for simply using an * instead of a normal character.

You should not be more angry at the person angrily defending someone from judgemental dumbasses than the judgemental dumbasses, unless you yourself are a judgemental dumbass.

Don't be the prick defending hateful behavior just because you'd do it too. That's, "it's just a prank, bro!" levels of being an uncaring piece of shit.