Well, if he's gone, he's gone. It is unfortunate, but it's ultimately his choice. Like "they" say, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

I'm normally one of the early adopters of conspiracy theories, but at -12, I don't see it. -50? Yeah, that's a conspiracy. -12 is just a poorly received node.

I've had plenty of nodes fall negative, but over time, they've all crawled back into the positive. That speaks well of the overall community.

Some people are put off by my personality. Some don't like my occasional use of ... colorful ... adjectives and adverbs. Do I sometimes get my feelings hurt by /msg's, etc.? Hell yes. I'm only human. But I don't let it rule my life, either. There's always tomorrow.

Others, rightly so, are drawn to me like a magnet ...

What it comes down to is why you're here. I'm not here to gain a reputation or be seen as some god-like programmer. I'm here to learn, and help others learn. I'm glad to be a member of this community, and more than happy to help build it. If I suffer a few downvotes along the way, so be it.

The bottom line is that you can't actively participate in life without suffering a few bumps and bruises along the way. That's life. Get over it and get moving.

Update: ysth politely pointed out in a private /msg that Code Blocks was the node that really got nailed. At -56, maybe there was a "conspiracy". However it's more likely that most of those who voted the thread realized what was going on. As I've already mentioned, the real question is why are you here? If it's to learn and help build the community, downvotes and reputations won't matter enough to drive you away.