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Meta SE is where a lot of discussion about things that affect the entire network take place. While most privileges should be locked behind the usual rep progression, there are some that shouldn't be.

  • Downvoting posts (already available at 100 rep, so association bonus is enough)

And:

  • Viewing deleted posts (note: only viewing, I'm not talking about casting delete or undelete votes)
  • Viewing vote counts (already available via user-script, but I see no reason to force people to hack around)

Some important posts get deleted; plenty of unimportant posts that are referred to elsewhere also get deleted. There's no reason these should be hidden behind the 10k rep barrier here on Meta SE. There's no reason why people who have got the privilege on other sites should then waste their time and effort dragging rep up to 10k here on Meta, just to see what's informing the discussion here.

Seeing the voting distribution is also important to get a feel of what the community thinks about the post (all the more so when comments get wiped out). A post at +63/0 is quite differently received from one at +126/-63.

I suggest that these privileges be made more widely available, by:

  • Checking for these privileges being available to the user on any other SE site, or
  • Making them available at a lower rep threshold (like with downvoting, but not necessarily at 100), or
  • Some other factor (any suggestions?)

I posted this originally as a comment, but IMHO this is becoming more important now.

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  • 4
    Just for joke: A post at +100/-2000 isn't much different from another at +400/-2300
    – iBug says Reinstate Monica
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 4:47
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    This is unfair to those who made the effort to earn 10k on MSE.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 4:51
  • 3
    @iBug The point OP raised is that the ratio of votes, not just the difference, is also important. It is important also to see the raw data, that is the actual up and down votes.
    – Timur Shtatland
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 4:52
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    @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog Every reduction in rep requirement for something is unfair to those who's made it through effort.
    – iBug says Reinstate Monica
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 4:53
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    @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog and the current situation is unfair to all the users of all the other sites when now-deleted posts may have affected policy or other changes that affects all those other sites.
    – muru
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 4:57
  • I quite agree for the vote count, and have been happy when I reached 1000 rep. Now, rearding deleted posts, I'm not sure. I have seen awful and stupid, now deleted, posts during this mess, and I think they are better buried deep down.
    – dim
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 5:34
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    @dim I agree with that somewhat. That's why I didn't make this feature request say "make deleted posts visible to everyone". My preferred option, indeed, is to make it available to people who already have experience with deleted posts elsewhere, and the drama that accompanies them.
    – muru
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 5:38
  • Downvoting a post is only available once though for answers, if all your rep comes from the assoc bonus innit? The moment you downvote an answer, you go to 100 rep, and there goes the privilege. (For questions this doesn't apply obviously, as long as you do not go below the 100)
    – Adriaan
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 14:58
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    @Adriaan twice, actually, since the privilege is still available at exactly 100, but it's relatively easy to get a few rep from suggested edits and such, and so continue to downvote as needed. Getting to 1k or 10k, though, is a much higher barrier.
    – muru
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 15:09

4 Answers 4

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This is an excellent suggestion. This meta needs more oversight of deleted posts from users with 10k somewhere else on the network. There is an interesting parallel to the way chat flags work

Users with the privilege to see deleted posts or view vote splits on any single network site should have the same privilege on this main meta (but not vote to delete or undelete as mentioned in the question).

The argument that regular meta drama makes it easier to earn rep here by adding answers of dubious worth seems without merit.

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33
+50

We have lowered the rep threshold from 1,000 to 100 on MSE for viewing the vote distribution. We agree that it makes sense that users on MSE can see the vote counts without having to set up user scripts.

Regarding the visibility of deleted posts, we won’t change the visibility. Though a small number of those posts might be helpful or interesting, we don’t see this as a meaningful addition to the experience of MSE.

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    If it means Established User privilege now reached with 100 rep, it should be changed in the Help Center.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 23, 2022 at 17:55
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    The canonical post for privileges was updated (though without any explanation whatsoever): What are the reputation requirements for privileges on sites, and how do they differ per site?.
    – This_is_NOT_a_forum
    Commented Jun 23, 2022 at 18:53
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    @ShadowWizardSaysNoMoreWar Per a comment on my most recent bug report, the privilege threshold (and thus page) wasn't updated because there are some other internal things attached to the privilege that aren't mentioned in the help center page.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Jun 23, 2022 at 22:38
  • @Sonic so essentially, at least on MSE, this privilege is nullified. Quite a mess, but no real harm so no big deal. (And the actual result is really helpful.)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 24, 2022 at 11:21
  • From when has the minimum required reputation lowered from 1000 to 100?
    – Snack Exchange
    Commented Nov 20, 2023 at 10:05
  • @SnackExchange As of the publication of this answer?
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Nov 20, 2023 at 11:09
  • @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog No, I mean the first time this feature changed
    – Snack Exchange
    Commented Nov 20, 2023 at 11:16
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The request has some merit (so I've upvoted it), but in a sense it's already happening. Traffic on Meta Stack Exchange is three times the usual, and users are upvoting (and downvoting) much more often than they did: about ten times the usual according to this SEDE query:

enter image description here

Most of those are upvotes, and those give a lot more reputation than downvotes cost anyway. Therefore, users are gaining much more reputation than normal (I've rep capped every day since September 30th without even trying to) and are gaining privileges much earlier than normal.

For the vote counts, you can install a userscript or if that doesn't work for you, view the timeline. Deleted posts are deleted for a reason, and if deleting a post really raises some questions, other users will post a question about the deletion anyway (example 1, example 2). Basically, the only thing you miss by not viewing deleted posts is more drama.

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    No, people posting screenshots or describing second hand is not enough. The revision history also matters many times. Hiding stuff is only contributing to the drama. And I have already mentioned and discarded the script for viewing vote counts.
    – muru
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 5:21
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    I feel hard locks on posts is much more appropriate on a discussion-heavy place such as meta here. Feel free to remove all non-mod interaction for these outdated posts. But I think deletion should be saved for spam and such.
    – Gloweye
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 7:21
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    But most of the votes go to people who already have a lot of meta-rep, because them's the ones who post most questions and answers that get a lot of votes. Only a handful of (previously) low-rep users will be taken significantly nearer to whichever privilege threshold.
    – Daniel Fischer
    Commented Oct 25, 2019 at 23:36
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+50

I rather deleted posts on Meta be visible to all users with high rep on any site, as it is better than people posting images of deleted posts (including on Twitter). At present, due to these posts being hidden from people who (many of us feel) should be able to see them, they are being made visible to people who have no investment in Stack Exchange who I think should not be seeing them.

(From the deleted posts I have viewed, about 1/3 of the posts removed for being offensive look to me like there is nothing offensive about them, just a few people not agreeing with what they say.)

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