I have noticed a greater preponderance of downvoting in recent months as well. However I've attributed that to the growing influence of Reddit, a forum in whic

I have noticed a greater preponderance of downvoting in recent months as well. However I've attributed that to the growing influence of Reddit, a forum in which brigading is common, voting is less about noise cancellation and more about memetic conformance, and where people will downvote if they disliked your punctuation or are simply having a rough morning.