"Hot" sort is terrible
Spend hours writing a detailed, well thought out post with references addressing <some aspect of the game>, and 1 downvote sends it to oblivion.
Write some stupid circlejerk-pandering bullshit like "Upvote for more refunds" that has no room for discussion, and go straight to the top.
Just accept that people will use upvotes to agree and downvotes to disagree. And sort based on discussion provoked. Or based on total votes. Or give new threads an upvote buffer. Or SOMETHING. Boards doesn't have to be a carbon copy of Reddit!!!