Good stuff @steevc, keep mentioning the downvoting and hopefully it will become more accepted in time. See acidyo's post today - there are many who still don't believe there is a lot of abuse / it's a positive thing to do.
Interesting thread on that post. I note the top commenter has a 'sponsor' who votes up all their stuff for a couple of dollars, so they are likely to fear those who downvote to adjust rewards. I mostly go after those who abuse the system whilst adding no value. Plenty of those around. I just don't have much VP available, but others with SFR can do more.