Of course, it's also acceptable to upvote a node you don't agree with but which you consider well-written or thoughtful.

In short, as others have already said, spend your votes as you like and others will do the same.

I disagree that we need a polling mechanism. We have the voting booth, although nobody would claim the results are for purposes other than amusement. But the fact is, that whether something gets implemented or not is probably going to depend upon the opinion of a few key people, probably the ones who will have to do the work of implementing it.

Perlmonks isn't a democracy (an unfortunate post not in need of further downvoting, but the resulting discussion explains why it isn't and why you shouldn't expect it--not that I mean to suggest that the polling booth proposal carried with it the suggestion that everything should be decided on the basis of votes, only to forestall any movement in that direction), nor do I think it should be one.

This is not to say that the opinion of everyone else using the site will be ignored, because I am quite sure that posts are read before decisions are made on controversial topics. So, if you want to express your opinion, post--even if it means risking downvotes.