Disqus Disables Downvoting

In case you haven't noticed, Disqus turned off the downvote counter a couple of days ago: "Downvotes are still counted but will no longer display the total number of votes. This action will still be denoted by the voting arrow turning red." No reason is given for the change. On some sites, moderators have encouraged readers to merely write "downvote" or "disagree" under comments they don't like.