Where did this downvote slider come from?

Was there an update announcement that I missed? Has this button been here a long time and I somehow managed to not notice it until today?

If this is brand new, I hope there were other changes as well. I don't really think that I will be using a downvote slider as I tend to simply ignore content that I find to be dumb or offensive but I suppose this would be useful to someone.

For me anyway, if someone is going to take their time out to determine "precisely the amount of negative vote" to give a blog entry, that person has significantly more free time than I do.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this: What sort of real function does this have? Is it an extension of the flagging system for minor offenses as opposed to major ones like plagiarism?

Please keep in mind that I am not saying this is a bad and / or dumb idea. I am more curious as to when did this happen and am I just so blind to my surroundings that perhaps it has been there for a long time and didn't notice it? I upvote a shitload of content every day and think i would have noticed before my 3rd year here.

On another note: I had previously said that the advertising didn't get on my nerves but the top sliding advert on occassion actually blocks my ability to see the title of my article - that's annoying :)