I'm not sure the ethical merit of what he did is germane to the message of the article.

Either way, a down vote should be accompanied by a comment.

I said this once and PG smacked me down. I think he's wrong. Unless you made an incredibly vapid comment with no substance whatsoever, you don't deserve to be downvoted unless there's at least one comment beneath your post. (Not to say I follow this rule all the time.)