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I downvoted on an answer few days ago, explaining carefully in a comment why I think the answer is incorrect. My votes are 72 up / 2 down. Today, I noticed my reputation on the site has gone down by 80. I noticed there were 40 downvotes (maximum permitted in a day by a single person), and wondered why. No downvote contained a single comment, and all were within 1 hour or so.

I suspected the person who I downvoted is the downvoter, and checked the profile of that person. Sure enough, this person got "Vox Populi", "Suffrage" and "Critic" badges at the same time my posts were systematically downvoted. The "all time" downvotes was also 40; there were only 5 upvotes. Votes cast month/week/day were 40/40/40. Thus, I have very strong grounds to believe that this person is systematically downvoting me.

Is this kind of activity permitted on the site? Sure, a downvote takes 1 of your reputation, but then again it takes 2 of the downvoted person's reputation so it's not a zero sum game. Thus, I believe downvotes should be used sparingly.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I think I found your comment and the suspected user. Protip: never comment on your vote (also on upvote, but especially on downvote). Just post your feedback without mentioning if you're the voter. It's never constructive. \$\endgroup\$
    – Andrew T.
    Apr 15, 2019 at 8:39
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    \$\begingroup\$ Okay, that might be a good idea. I should probably consider only leaving the feedback, without mentioning that I'm the downvoter. \$\endgroup\$
    – juhist
    Apr 15, 2019 at 8:49
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    \$\begingroup\$ Disagree with @AndrewT. - the voting may be anonymous, but negative repercussions should not follow for removing that anonymity to make your vote and criticism known to the poster. (Hence, the automatic removal of these rage votes). It’s up to the poster to understand that you have a criticism and felt strongly enough about it to downvote. They can work it out with you further to improve the answer, or not. Maybe they’ll even earn your upvote after working a better or more clear answer. I say good on you for owning it and woe on them for throwing a tantrum about it. \$\endgroup\$
    – OnBreak.
    Apr 15, 2019 at 13:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Hueco agree to disagree, it's based on my strong believe from Shog's answer on Meta Stack Overflow. \$\endgroup\$
    – Andrew T.
    Apr 15, 2019 at 13:58
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    \$\begingroup\$ @AndrewT. look at that, we disagree and no-one has rage-voted the other :-D \$\endgroup\$
    – OnBreak.
    Apr 15, 2019 at 15:46
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    \$\begingroup\$ Agreeing with Hueco. A downvote doesn't help the poster much (but it helps others). I downvote answers I find stupid/dangerous/completely off-target, and will leave a comment (unless someone already said it). I can also leave a negative comment without downvoting. \$\endgroup\$
    – xenoid
    Apr 15, 2019 at 20:51

1 Answer 1

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No, it's not permitted, and those votes will be automatically reversed once detected. Give it 24 hours, then post here if this doesn't happen.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Great! I'll wait and see what happens... Good to know there are automatic detection for such behavior. \$\endgroup\$
    – juhist
    Apr 15, 2019 at 7:30
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    \$\begingroup\$ Similarly, systematic up votes aren't allowed either (unless something has changed). \$\endgroup\$
    – xiota
    Apr 16, 2019 at 4:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ Out of curiosity: Will the downvoter be notified about it? E.g. "We are sorry, but we detected that you systematically downvoted another user. This is not allowed - we retracted your votes. Please ..."? \$\endgroup\$
    – flolilo
    Apr 17, 2019 at 23:07
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    \$\begingroup\$ I've always felt that the negative reputation to the downvoter from serial downvoting should not be "refunded." Give the victim their 2 points back, but keep the 1 point the downvoter spent to downvote. Perhaps it is that way? \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Apr 18, 2019 at 8:59
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    \$\begingroup\$ @flolilo Not explicitly, but they will see a "vote reversal" entry in their reputation tab. \$\endgroup\$
    – forest
    Apr 19, 2019 at 1:59
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    \$\begingroup\$ @flolilo - I'm not sure if there is anything automatic or not, but if someone does it regularly, it is something that can result in moderators taking manual actions which they would receive notifications about. Repeatedly abusing voting mechanics can be grounds for suspensions. \$\endgroup\$
    – AJ Henderson Mod
    Apr 20, 2019 at 0:20

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