Yes, please do not get rid of upbears. There are too many useful things they provide and I honestly find it hard to fathom that people think it would make any kind of difference as far as reducing hostility. Hostility is in the content of the posts/comments themselves, not the fact that the number of people who "liked" something didn't match up with the poster's (or others) expectations.

I know one of the reasons expressed has to do with neurodivergent people and I can respect that to the extent that they say it effects them. But I am neurodivergent too and have pretty significant issues with communicating with people. (It's part of why I rarely post or comment even though I am on the site literally every day, sometimes for hours). For me, upvoting gives me a way to feel like I'm still participating in the conversation, still a part of the community, even if I feel too s****d or nervous to post, or if I just don't have anything specific to express. I like being able to give input, even if it's small, and even if it's anonymous. And it's not negative input, it's simply me feeling like I can say "yes! I agree!" or "wow, what an awesome meme," or even just "I laughed at that silly pun, thanks." I often really do want to express appreciation for something I see without having to "come out of hiding" and formulate the wording that I will keep telling myself is "dumb of me" or too over the top, or not enough, or whatever. I know I shouldn't fret about that kind of thing, but I do - and being able to upvote is the perfect way to feel like I'm still contributing at least a tiny bit without having to go through that worry every time I think something is good.

And there are tons of other reasons that I know other people mentioned even in threads that got nuked. Like it really does help me recognize a wrecker that I might not be sharp enough to recognize before the mods get to it. It also helps, especially in the megathreads to quickly tell if it's a thread I've read or not (which I know could bee fixed if we implemented a "already read" button or something, but we already have upvotes which I still think are good for other reasons obviously). On that last point, I feel like there are so many amazing things that could be getting worked on for the site as far as what the wonderful devs are spending their time on for free. Let's not request they work on something that would reduce the functionality and imo the enjoyment of the site.

Now I'm going to click post, walk away, and try (but fail) not to keep thinking about what I should have said instead and whether or not I should delete this comment.