There is no way, method, or manner to avoid down votes other to never post or comment. The Steemit FAQ on down votes: "Users are allowed to downvote for any reason that they want." So it is impossible to avoid down votes.

Bid Bot's Buying/selling Votes"Selling or offering to buy votes/resteems/follows, or schemes that facilitate this." is considered abuse.

The FAQ does have a lot of information in it. People just don't like to read it because then they do not have the sympathy card of I didn't know. There are a lot of things that people are never told, it does not take long to see the results of ones actions. If an individual does not like the consequence of what happened to them because of their own action, they can either ask the individual what they did wrong, ignore the issue and continue on with their ways, or change their ways, and the issue may go away.

I'm just trying to figure out "what the rules are".

The rules on steem block chain are like the rules in life, the laws are always changing based on what the leaders want or what the leaders perceive society wants, or what they feel would move society in one direction or another.

During WW2 in America there were rationing laws, and internment laws, and removal of freedoms for some groups of people, those laws at the time made sense to those in charge, and to most people because they did not vote those individuals out of office.

HF20/21 the EIP was talked about discussed, and voted on by the individuals that the users of the steem block chain voted in as witnesses, the majority of the stake agreed with the assessment because the majority of the same witnesses are still in the top 20.

As for "Nobody told me the whales can't be criticized." they can and often are. If it is criticism then they may look at it, if it is name calling and ranting and raving about their lack of brains or other such nonsense then retaliation is going to happen. To many people think statements such "You're an asshole" are criticism, it's not it's an opinion. Most so called criticism is nothing more than opinion.

A short search on the word criticism: "the act of expressing disapproval and of noting the problems or faults of a person or thing : the act of criticizing someone or something. : a remark or comment that expresses disapproval of someone or something."

Name calling is not criticism, attacking a person character is not criticism. To many of the people that say they were just criticizing a whale or an individual we instead attacking the individuals character