Easily. One of the most well known guides for noobs used to literally be called “Welcome to Dota, You Suck” to poke fun at how bad it is.

My understanding is that upvotes don't do anything themselves, boost functions like a reddit upvote in that it will bring a comment or article to the top of the queue. I use it as a 'people should see this' button.

I've heard Utah is beautiful for hiking, and this proves it