6

I am new to Stack Overflow, and currently have 1 rep status (at the moment, I just posted three answers there).

A few minutes back, the reputation section in my profile summary showed that I was awarded 10 reputation in relation to this post answer. Nevertheless, after clicking on the link to see that post, the status was still "0" votes for my answer and the answer not ticked as accepted either.

When returning to the reputation section in my profile summary, I could see I had now 1 rep instead of 10, but, at the same time "positive reputation change" was showing a green bar.

After refreshing a few times, the green bar itself disappeared, and that section is now showing "You have no recent positive reputation changes", and I still am at 1 rep in my status.

In the meantime, I got notified of new "privileges" granted to me, such as posting here, namely: "Communication privilege - Awarded at: 5 reputation"... while I am actually presently 1 rep.

I really don't understand what happened, and I can't seem to find any history about it.

I am unsure of what happened, if this is a bug, or if there is an explanation I am unaware of due to my lack of knowledge.

Improve this question
7
  • 3
    The vote was retracted about a minute after it was cast.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Jun 13, 2017 at 17:37
  • @animuson ok, thank you. I guess that means the person who "voted" decided to retract its vote for some reason (if I understand well what you say by telling me that the "vote was retracted"). I haven't been able to find any history of that, is that a "feature" (people can vote, and then change their mind a few seconds later, and nobody knows about it unless they are seeing it at that time)?
    – Tardis
    Commented Jun 13, 2017 at 17:43
  • Votes that were retracted the same day are hidden from the history to prevent an abuse case of users filling each other's histories with vote/unvote events.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Jun 13, 2017 at 17:44
  • Since that vote was retracted, and I am 1 Rep, I shouldn't be posting here... and that would be a bug :-) Anyway, I am glad that this glitch allowed me to get some help from you @animuson, so thanks again.
    – Tardis
    Commented Jun 13, 2017 at 17:51
  • 3
    You don't need any reputation to post here. You only need 5 reputation to post on Meta Stack Overflow. This is the meta for the entire network which has no minimum reputation requirement.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Jun 13, 2017 at 17:52
  • @animuson ok, right, I see I confused the sites, sorry for that. Indeed posting to meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/ask is currently prevented in my case .. so everything is good :-)
    – Tardis
    Commented Jun 13, 2017 at 17:55
  • 3
    @animuson why not make those comments into an answer? :)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 13, 2017 at 18:51

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
6

As mentioned, this is the result of someone reversing their vote. It just so happened that you were online to notice the immediate notification, but lost the reputation, again, when the user retracted their vote.

It is worth noting that this does not necessarily mean the user changed their mind, regarding the vote. The window to retract a vote without further edits to a question is rather small. As such, it is more likely that the initial vote was made in error, and the user noticed in time to correct said error. This sometimes happens to me, especially when I aim to check a questions total score, by clicking on the number in the middle of upvote and downvote buttons1.

When a vote is thus retracted so shortly after being cast, the vote and its retraction do not appear in the user's reputation history for technical reasons (to avoid users filling each other's histories with meaningless vote/unvote events), and that is why you could not find any history about it.

As pointed out, this is the general Meta site for all of Stack Exchange, and any registered user can post with only 1 reputation. As you have noted, the reputation requirement pertains to specific site-metas (e.g. Meta Stack Overflow, which you are indeed still restricted from accessing.

1 At a higher reputation, you can view the "total score", which displays total downvotes and total upvotes. Instead of just seeing "0", you might see "+1, -1", or even "+15, -15".

Improve this answer
6
  • It would be useful to add to your contribution and your summary of others' statements, the explanation given by animuson, that the vote was retracted in a very short time period ("about a minute after it was cast" according to his comment) and that votes "that are retracted the same day are hidden from the history to prevent an abuse case of users filling each other's histories with vote/unvote events". So that future users have an explanation as to why their history is silent. I am unsure how to fit that in your post, so I hesitate to suggest actual rewording as an edit to your post.
    – Tardis
    Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 14:12
  • also, I am curious to understand how animuson found that information; I believe that since he has 122,329 rep and he works "for Stack Overflow as a Community Growth Operations Specialist" according to his status page, he has access to tools we do not, but I am just guessing that. I am also unsure this should be included in the answer though.
    – Tardis
    Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 14:13
  • @Tardis Or, as I interpret, it is just plain common sense. The time limit is expressley stated you attempt to retract a vote past said time.
    – Gnemlock
    Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 18:25
  • Or atleast, it use to.
    – Gnemlock
    Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 18:26
  • I tested myself (on your post :-D), according to these tests, it looks like the window is, in fact a few minutes (not "about a minute") ... at least on this Meta. The common sense you refer to would be knowledge available to users who can vote (and have tried to retract their vote shortly after). That knowledge coming from experience, users having 1 rep won't have. So I believe that adding an explanation about why the vote and retraction do not appear in user's rep history in that case is useful for them. I suggested an edit to your post. Hope it is OK, or feel free to reword, or reject :-)
    – Tardis
    Commented Jun 16, 2017 at 11:03
  • My edit has been accepted, yay! I upvoted your answer including my modest contribution and marked it as accepted :-)
    – Tardis
    Commented Jun 16, 2017 at 12:07
3

This was due to the fact that the vote was retracted after it was made. Since the vote was undone, the reputation change was undone as well. You got the +10 reputation from the upvote, then you got a -10 reputation when the upvote was reversed.

The reason that you could still post here when you had 1 reputation on Stack Overflow was because this is NOT a per-site-meta; this site is a meta for Stack Exchange as a whole. Unlike the per-site-metas, you don't need reputation to post here. When you had 1 rep on Stack Overflow, you couldn't post on meta.stackoverflow, though you could post here on meta.stackexchange, the generic meta, since you don't need reputation to post here.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

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