I've noticed a lot more grayed out comments in general, including my own. Sometimes it's obvious: they (or I) posted on the political/politicized intersections

I've noticed a lot more grayed out comments in general, including my own. Sometimes it's obvious: they (or I) posted on the political/politicized intersections of a subject. Downvotes are likely a mix of people who are aggressively opposed to the apparent tilt of the comment and people who are ideologically opposed to anything they see as politics. Most times, it's no different from any comment I've made that merely sat at 1. I think there must have been an influx of people in the last half year or so who are more prone to downvote or flag something they disagree with or just don't like. Only someone with access to the vote database could run a more objective analysis, but my anecdotal impression is that HN is getting more downvotey.