Maybe it makes the case for having a separate voting system for funding projects vs trying to make decisions about features for hardforks...

I don't see a real difference here. I mean people can vote carelessly or maliciously. But if someone really wants to knock out just one proposal and not others, they can vote both return and the proposals they like (along with other voters potentialy changing their votes).

Any ordering is possible if the votes are made/removed to get there, including both proposals and/or budget items being above or below the line.

Some engagement might make sense to address misunderstandings or resolvable conflicts, but at some point we do have to accept that voters vote the way they do because that's what they want, whether we agree or not.

We probably do need percentage votes though.