What are the most downvoted questions and answers on Stack Overflow, Server Fault, Meta, and Super User history to date?
Similarly, what are the most upvoted questions and answers on SO, SF, Meta, and SU to date?
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42@Kirsh: Oh, boy! We can have our own award show: the Stackys. Awards include Best SuperUser Question, Best Supporting Comment, Best Answer (Adapted Blog Post), and Best Foreign Language Question (which you're obvious gunning for).– Hilarious Comedy PestoCommented Jul 30, 2009 at 15:02
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7@Pesto: Don't forget the "Best abuse of the phrase "As a programmer..."" award.– gnostradamusCommented Jul 30, 2009 at 15:08
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6@Kirsh: Is that like a metaphysical question on the nature of the hero of the Zelda games? "What is Link, if not a manifestation of man's desire to impose order and justice upon a universe that is anything but?"– Hilarious Comedy PestoCommented Jul 30, 2009 at 15:09
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1And the prize will be a Tony!– Thorbjørn Ravn AndersenCommented Sep 28, 2010 at 16:38
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1No idea why it's closed. Valid request for statistics.– Shadow WizardCommented Nov 18, 2015 at 12:50
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1True @Pat - but if reopened, the delete vote won't be relevant anymore. :)– Shadow WizardCommented Nov 18, 2015 at 13:54
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3The most negative voted question is stackoverflow.com/questions/42384565/…– B.BalamanigandanCommented Dec 17, 2018 at 13:34
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1Anyone else notice that @B.Balamanigandan 's post for the most downvoted question was his own question?– applemonkey496Commented May 9, 2020 at 1:05
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Always make the best out of your mistakes @applemonkey496 haha– Some GuyCommented Feb 10, 2021 at 4:05
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I’m voting to close this question because this became archive for bad questions, and I don't think that's a proper goal. So better close it, keep what we have already, and move on.– Shadow WizardCommented Feb 19, 2022 at 16:01
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8 Answers
This was the highest up voted answer in history ... then this one... and now its this one.
For all others, here is the comprehensive list (previously deleted post). Here's the list for questions.
Disclaimer: These have the most up votes, and may not be the highest scoring. There is a difference.
This was the most down voted answer in history. Notice it has a ton of up votes. Now it's this - with far fewer up-votes (but still more up than down...) For all others, here is the comprehensive list.
This is the most down-voted question, and here's the list for questions.
Disclaimer: These have the most down votes, and may not be the lowest scoring. There is a difference.
As for the scores (June 3, 15):
The lowest-scoring question is Don't close questions where the user has requested that it not be closed (MSE, -157), the lowest-scoring answer is Info: Contacted by spammers (Ispirer Systems) referencing Stack Overflow (MSO, -269).
The highest-scoring question is Why is processing a sorted array faster than processing an unsorted array? (SO; +11,226), the highest-scoring answer is Why is processing a sorted array faster than processing an unsorted array? (SO; +16,359) (the answer to the above question).
answered Jul 30, 2009 at 14:47
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3Couldn't you use your sandbox powers to find the ones with the highest and lowest scores by comparing the ups against the downs?– TheTXICommented Jul 30, 2009 at 14:52
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1Yes, I can easily find 'score', but the question was directed at up votes and down votes, not the highest scoring questions. Commented Jul 30, 2009 at 14:56
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FWIW... lowest-scoring question: stackoverflow.com/questions/566010 lowest-scoring answer: stackoverflow.com/questions/182845– Shog9Commented Jul 30, 2009 at 14:59
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(the highest-scoring Q&A are still the cartoon Q&A, so less interesting...) (yeah - folks really hate non-programming-questions)– Shog9Commented Jul 30, 2009 at 15:01
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I don't know why still we are keeping that question in SO , Because those questions are not a programming question– joeCommented Jul 30, 2009 at 15:25
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@Kirsh: because enough people want it to keep re-opening it...– Shog9Commented Jul 30, 2009 at 22:46
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@Ian: your link to most downvoted question of all time points to an answer, not a question. (my answer, in fact!) are you saying that the answer is the most downvoted item in history, or is the link just supposed to go to the question?– KipCommented Aug 5, 2009 at 15:17
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Actually, now that I look at your queries, it is in fact my answer (not the question). The reason is that, for quite a while, it was being heavily downvoted to keep it at exactly 256 votes.– KipCommented Aug 5, 2009 at 15:20
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Yeah they point to answers/questions. I suppose I could change them to only questions but I never felt the need, false advertising! Commented Aug 5, 2009 at 16:32
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4I'm getting a lot of 403's on the links. I was curious... Commented Apr 30, 2010 at 14:10
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1Any chance this can be updated? Other questions are pointing here now, but since the best links in this answer are dead, not sure we'll see a current answer added. See: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/54396 Commented Jun 21, 2010 at 2:00
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Official FAQ on gender pronouns and Code of Conduct changes was one of the most downvoted questions on the whole site, sitting at -1285 5 days after posting. OP has gone from 1924 to currently 342 points:
It has since been deleted by the author. An archived version can be found here on the Wayback Machine.
Update:
An Update to our Community and an Apology is sitting at -1996 as of 2019-09-26 23:30 UTC-05:00.
Before it was deleted on 2019-12-23, it was voted to -2264. An archived version from just before deletion can again be found on the Wayback Machine
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1Just an FYI: You can search for posts by score. For example, a search for
score:..-300. However, that's on the net score, not upvotes and downvotes separately.– MakyenCommented Oct 15, 2019 at 18:10 -
Evidence of the Gender pronouns failure has been deleted. Commented Jun 2, 2020 at 21:22
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@DanDascalescu Yes, the link to the archived version is in the answer also.– MarvCommented Jun 2, 2020 at 21:46
Surprised that none posted Jeff's answers on meta.
Yes the creator of meta has the (one of the) most downvoted answer! :)
That includes two down-votes from me as well.. :)
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The top upvoted questions on SO:
The top view questions on SO:
The lowest voted answer in the past 30 days is This at -17. To go back farther you would have to consult the data dumps that are made publicly available.
Edit: I was also able to find This One currently at -21.
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I am asking about all from past history .. not Like past 30 days– joeCommented Jul 30, 2009 at 14:44
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7I just told you to go back further you need to consult the data dumps.– TheTXICommented Jul 30, 2009 at 14:45
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TXI ... You are wrong, it is now -18.... well, -19 after I saw it. Commented Jul 30, 2009 at 14:45
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I'm pretty sure I recall seeing one at close to -30. Are deleted questions included in the data dump?– mmyersCommented Jul 30, 2009 at 14:45
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mmyers: I would imagine they are, since deleted questions are not actually deleted from the system (10k people can still see them, afterall? Unless they are routinely wiped from the system after a while).– TheTXICommented Jul 30, 2009 at 14:47
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3Chacha...what part of "currently" are you not understanding? It is entirely feasible that the voting will change once more attention is brought to it.– TheTXICommented Jul 30, 2009 at 14:47
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3If you add ![currently] in markup then whatever you post will automagically be updated to reflect any changes Commented Jul 30, 2009 at 15:07
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1Somebody - not the OP - deleted the one at -21 :( Commented Sep 25, 2010 at 18:19
This question on Meta StackOverflow has -2064 downvotes; and rightfully so. I really hope they keep developer story :(
Edit:
Just noticed that the links on other answers on this question aren't working, so I'm just gonna screenshot it so we can remember this moment:
Beside the SEDE, there is also the top search bar, which is very useful and smart. It should be used with the SEDE, not instead of it. It is very useful to read its help page once, it might help a lot later.
Your 3 main ways to search something are:
- SEDE
- search bar
All of them have its advantages and disadvantages, use always the tool most feasible for your problem.
On the search bar, you can find the most upvoted/downvoted question/answer on this way:
- enter
is:questionoris:answerin the search box - sort the output by votes
- If you want the most upvoted post, then you already see it. If you want the lowest voted post, go to the last page.
There are also far more sophisticated options, too, for example with favorite:mine [linux] created:2d.. you can see the [linux] questions younger than 2 days in your favorites.
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This worked for me. I found the question I mentioned in my answer at the bottom of the last page, verifying it as the lowest on Meta SE. This is actually, IMO, the best answer, because it moves beyond the need for "this is the current record" answers like I gave! Now we can all see for ourselves in real time! Commented Jul 23, 2019 at 3:09
Here is an incredibly low-scoring question right here on Meta with an overall score of -361 - and it has a bounty on it worth 100 reputation at the moment!
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With an overall loss of 122 reputation from this, I can figure its overall up- and downvotes as follows: a pure -361 with no upvotes would lose 722, then each up- and downvote pair from there to keep the score at -361 would add 3 reputation (a question upvote is +5; a downvote -2.) This would be 200 upvotes (and additional downvotes) to gain 600 reputation overall to lighten the overall loss to 122. So, at the moment, it should have 200 upvotes and 561 downvotes.
