You earned -30 reputation today on ...
The above doesn't sound right to me. It appears as the tooltip in the "recent achievements" dialog:
Can this please be changed to something like:
You lost 30 reputation today on ...
I prefer that the text stay the way it is. A negative sign stands out and makes it immediately noticeable that you lost reputation. Changing the word "earned" to "lost" is much less noticeable and I know that I would probably just assume that I really gained 30 rep that day.
You didn't lose reputation. None of the previous votes which increase your reputation were taken away. You earned negative votes:
earn: to merit as compensation, as for service; deserve:
Yes, there are other definitions of earn which only count gains, but the existence of those definitions doesn't preclude the use of the correct definition.
You earned those negative reputation points. In the database rows were added with negative reputation, which were then added to your total reputation.
Whether your reputation increases or decreases is irrelevant.
Something that may not require not too much work
Your reputation changed by X today
The phrase makes sense regardless of whether X is positive or negative.
I don't think that it has a sarcastic tone
It keeps the negative sign
Thinking about reasons ones rep might decrease: (Too long for a comment)
You have earned this loss of rep through your failures. You (theoretically) deserve it. Though it might not be so nice to point it out.
You have spent/expended rep.
You have lost the rep, it is misplaced, and go to you through quiet possibly no fault of your own.
I guess there is no single empathic verb. Changed works though
One way for the site to neutrally impart the information and allow positive and negative values make sense:
"Your Stack Overflow net reputation change for today: -30"
Also, having the number at the end of the sentence seems clearer
earned
togained
makes it go both ways better...gained
has a meaning closer to "possibly negative". For example in a game you might "gain" an illness debuff. It is hard to imagine you earning an illness. Recently I "earned" -10 rep because a user who had voted for me was deleted, and his/her votes were reversed. That is hardly something I "earned" - sarcastically or not. It wasn't my fault s/he was deleted. Maybe say "You lost 30 reputation today on Stack Overflow" with the bolding emphasising the word.gain deservedly in return for one's behaviour or achievements.
. I think negative rep excludesdeservedly
unless you meanhe deserved to be marked down
. I suggest most people think ofearn
as something positive. You earn a salary, you don't earn a tax. You wouldn't say "Hey, I earned -$1000 in tax today!".