I'm for manual curation when possible, with both upvotes and downvotes and I think it is beneficial for the community. I do not think that group downvotes without thoughtful review of the content and engagement is meeting that criteria.
Also, I don't consider protecting and growing one's own investment to be altruistic in any sense of the word.
If you guys are going to continue this approach my suggestion would be to tone it down.
Personally, I think if the same amount of effort and coordination were focused on talking about Steem and spreading the word it would be a much better use of time.
Again, I am not suggesting that you have to listen to me, after all others have trusted you with their stake and maybe you should just quiet down and do your thing. :)