I'm sort of the opposite, sometimes I see a gray comment that I wouldn't normally have bothered to vote on either way and think "it's not that bad" and upvote to get it out of gray.
Yeah, I've done that a few times as well. I guess it could go either way. I think that's why only displaying as grey after 3+ downvotes would keep people only voting based on their own thoughts and not on how other people have acted on that comment.
Yes, I do this too. It annoys me that it is 'necessary' to do this. I can only hope others agree with me.