Can anyone explain why they downvoted me instead of just downvoting?

I didn’t, but I can provide some advice since I see this type of comment and nobody really gets advice on this kind of thing. Your comment wasn’t inflammatory — it was factual. However, it only contained a fact, and in that fact, the wording sounded like you were being not only factual, but perhaps a little too stuck to your guns.

Controversial comments on HN are generally appreciated as long as they have both commentary and supporting evidence. The commentary part is key. Many of us have read HN for years and are very well aware of these events. Thus, posting about them isn’t news to us — it’s just noise. A new take on it or an interpretation from you is always welcome, but just “spreading the news,” is somewhat the antithesis of Hacker News in the comments.

For the record, when I posted that comment, its score was in the negative, and now it's positive again. So I guess it was just a matter of waiting for more people to read it.