0

See here https://stackoverflow.com/users/573261/cyberkiwi?tab=reputation

At the moment, the top post there is Why is sqlpsx not included in SQL Server itself?

The answer has 5 upvotes and was accepted. How did it get 57? Is it anything to do with "the answer is 42" + 15 (accepted)??

Improve this question
2
  • 2
    Looks like you hit the reputation cap.
    – user102937
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:13
  • by adding Heinz catsup?
    – Rosinante
    Jan 25, 2011 at 1:15

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
5

The most likely scenario is that your reputation was capped by hitting the 200 mark, but you had also accrued one downvote prior to that 5th upvote. This will make it only worth 2 reputation, to counter the earlier downvote. So +40 for the first 4 votes, +2 for the last one, and +15 for the acceptance yields +57.

You can confirm for yourself the exacts of how this played out using a reputation audit.

Improve this answer
7
  • Seems to be a plausible scenario, certainly. It's worth noting for the OP's sanity that he can still earn the +15 for accepted answers even after hitting the rep cap. So upvotes won't get him anything until midnight UTC (except the feeling of having contributed to a better world, certainly), but accepts certainly will.
    – Anthony Pegram
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:14
  • @Simon I did check to see that the users were the same, just to let you know. ♪ That's also why the reputation audit link is specifically to Stack Overflow rather than a demonstration.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:16
  • I think you meant /reputation in your link. I got it, it shows one row with 4778051 [1]. But that would be 56 not 57... cue forward to daily recalc in 3,2...
    – RichardTheKiwi
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:16
  • +1 because it's probably the right answer in this case as opposed to my generic answer.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:17
  • @Anthony - for the OP's sanity - weird feeling being referred to in 3rd person form while still in the room
    – RichardTheKiwi
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:18
  • @cyberkiwi I did mean to add /reputation, yes (thanks, Robert). Now, it is more accurate there, though, so if you were to run your daily recalc, you will probably see your graph update to only say +56. This would then be due to casting a downvote, rather than receiving one.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:18
  • 2
    @ChrisF Oh, what irony it is that I am capped for the day and have gotten 0 for this, haha ♪
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:19
3

The machine that answered the question told you to ask the right question.

Since the points is 57 for the question, then the answer is not 42, but the answer to the answer is 42.

Meaning that you found the right question that gives the right answer.

Congratulations. You validated that monkeys banging on a keyboard can eventually write Romeo and Juliet.

You also broke the universe.

Virus = very yes!

Improve this answer
2
  • 2
    I like the answer even if it is very wrong and even gets the facts wrong.
    – RichardTheKiwi
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:14
  • I wish to put this answer in a locket and keep it with me always.
    – Shog9
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:17
2

You hit the rep cap (200 points from votes).

If you were at 193 points for the day (say) then the last up-vote from 4 to 5 would only give you 7 points rather than the full 10.

It's a bit more complicated than that due to the points from answer acceptances not counting towards the cap, but that's basically it.

Improve this answer
4
  • that's hard to calculate then. It would seem safer that the system would forward the points to the next day. Otherwise recalcs would have to understand what day points were rewarded on.
    – Lee Louviere
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:14
  • @Xaade - points aren't carried over, they're just lost. The system does know when (as measured against UTC) votes were cast and hence points awarded. That information is used for other things as well (vote fraud detection for example).
    – ChrisF Mod
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:16
  • 1
    If points were forwarded, some users could stop now and continue to accrue points through 2094.
    – Anthony Pegram
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:17
  • You mean like Shakespeare?
    – Lee Louviere
    Jan 24, 2011 at 22:32

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .