I wouldn’t say I’m ever conscious of deliberately “ankling”, in fact I’d never heard it referred to as such, but I’ve started to think about it a bit more since I started taking a mountain biker out on road bikes.
I rode roadbikes long before mountain biking, so have a natural, fluent pedaling style, whereas this other rider had never ridden clipped in, and whilst a fairly experienced and skillful mountain biker, his pedaling looked very awkward on the roadbike.
Personally, I think if you’re making good circular rotations rather than mashing, a slight heel-down technique is a perfectly natural result in the lower part of the stroke (assuming good ankle flexibility).
The only time I consciously think about my pedal technique is when I’m grinding on the flat when I’ll try to put more power down throughout the pedal stroke. When climbing, my ankle does whatever it wants to do, however my toes point down as I make a more exaggerated pull up on the back of the stroke.
I’m a fairly high-cadence pedaler too, no idea what difference this makes if any.
I might see what toe-pointing does next time I ride, although I suspect it might be a short cut to tendonitis!