To settle the question that the OP was asking would it be possible to look at the change in up to down voting ratio over time for the whole monastery? I am thinking of results that might look a bit like this:
Changes in voting habits:
Year Up : Down
00-01 80% : 20%
01-02 83% : 17%
etc...
I don't know how you would get this info or if it is something that you would want to disclose but it might be interesting. Then again: lies, damned lies and statistics...
--tidiness is the memory loss of environmental mnemonics