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We've been getting a lot of questions like this ever since the feature to see event reversals such as deleted posts and serial voting was added into the reputation history; and their confusion is legitimate. Even well-respected users have become confused by that number above the day. It should display the reputation changes for that day.

I propose that reversal events such as these be visually separated from the main events for that day and not included in the total reputation change for that day. After all, their reputation isn't actually changing for that day, but reversing changes from previous days. These events already seem to get bumped down to the bottom of the events for the day, why not add a simple separator between them?

Events indicating reversals

New events indicating a reversal

Events which have been reversed

Original events that have been reversed

Perhaps a second, smaller number could be added next to the main one to indicate that other events took place on that day, but I feel most users who really care will have noticed or went looking for the events anyways. However, including them in the actual change only serves to confuse people.

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  • 13
    Ha! I knew it was you who downvoted there ;)
    – Lix
    Commented Sep 11, 2012 at 19:16
  • What is the reason for the decline? Is this too complicated to implement due to how the database is structured?
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 21:10
  • 2
    @Sonic Basically. There wasn't any more specific reason provided outside "is too complicated and we don't wanna do it." I'm sure there's a more technical answer that I don't have.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 21:13
  • I don't know. To be honest, it just seemed kinda strange that you were turning around and declining your own request that you yourself filed.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 21:14
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    @Sonic Ya that's why I initially didn't want to decline it myself. But this was actually declined like 6-8 months ago and nobody ever marked it as such. I had pushed it internally because I get tired of explaining this stuff to people all the time through the support channel. :/
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 21:16

2 Answers 2

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+150

I would love to see all events in the timeline when they initially occurred. Entries that are rescinded / invalidated later should be struck out:

entry stuck out

In addition there could be entries in current timeline for such reversal events - discolored if they concern previous days to indicate they are not affecting reputation "today". That would reflect what actually happens behind the curtains and make it clear, at least to me.

enter image description here

Or maybe shaded grey so the green for "up" and the red for "down" are still there. (Contrast would need to be improved, obviously.)

entry with grey background

Events concerning previous days should be summed separately as per @animuson's suggestion in the question (which I totally agree with). That would obviate the need for confusing "Voting corrected (learn more)" entries and leave us with accurate daily numbers.

The show removed posts checkbox could be renamed to show voting corrections.

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  • I still favor the simplicity of animuson's solution, but this is certainly a viable option
    – psubsee2003
    Commented May 17, 2015 at 22:59
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If you uncheck the "show removed posts" checkbox, your daily display should be more accurate. (Not sure how this works with reversed votes. I'll have to science.)

There's no graceful way to display this in a chronological view, IMHO - technically a post is removed on day X, so you lose reputation on day X... even though behind the scenes we do a recalc and the end result is as if that post never happened.

I personally would rather see rep lost for deleted posts on the days when it happened. Otherwise, it'll be a happy fun time hunting for the cause of a rep drop if the removed post was days old.

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    I and many people are aware of the show removed posts box, but this is still causing a lot of confusion. I like viewing the removed posts in my history, and it seems inconvenient that I have to switch it on and off constantly to see real numbers. Separating them would make the option more of "append deleted posts to the list" rather than "mix them into everything and make it all confusing."
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Sep 22, 2012 at 0:54
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    I've just fallen into this trap myself, asking on StackOverflow's Meta about why my profile is showing 199 reputation instead of 200, and I can't imagine that I'll be the last to do so either!
    – James Donnelly
    Commented Dec 9, 2014 at 16:17

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