If you've been reading his posts for years, then yes, you could know from the title and username what was coming and that it would deserve a downvote. (Heck, I didn't even need to see the username. As soon as I read the title, I knew who wrote it and what it would be like. A quick scan only confirmed it.)

This isn't something that just sprang up. Reasonable people didn't suddenly become unreasonable out of the blue. This has been going on for years, and people are understandably frustrated. If multiple people who used to be reluctant to downvote at all are becoming quick with the trigger, maybe that shows the extent of the problem.