In the case in question, I saw a comment in the chatterbox that indicated he was being punished for "whining" about XP in the CB. It made me go and upvote some of his good nodes. It's a shame to have lost him.

Update: Just to clarify, I don't believe there was any conspiracy, nor is there any mechanism for such. And if you post an idea to Perl Monks Discussion, you have to be prepared to receive downvotes even from those who respectfully disagree (update: I'm referring to his -57 for a self-described request for discussion). But I think (without actual evidence) that there was an attitude by some of "let's teach him not to care so much about XP" that was a source of some of the downvoting, and that I find disturbing.

Update: I see comments saying a friar should know how the system works better. I'd like to point out that you can become a friar in a very short period of time. He had been a user for just 40 days.