-10

I think not. Your own posts should either automatically upvoted by the creator or not upvotable by the creator.

Improve this question
4
  • The post doesn't really make a ton of sense; maybe because it's an older post, the system was different back then.
    – 0xCursor
    Aug 3, 2018 at 16:37
  • I just upvoted this question because I feel like it's actually useful. I feel like it's useful because it enables people to give a useful answer like the one at meta.stackexchange.com/questions/147214/…. I actually found this question through a Google search. Maybe given that that's how I found it, I'm more likely to be the type of person who would upvote it. I realize other people probably won't agree with me and I accept that. Maybe they feel like it's so obvious that it's useful to make people unable to vote for their own
    – Timothy
    Oct 24, 2019 at 19:06
  • post and feel like posting this question wastes the time of other users and prevents them from making more useful contributions.
    – Timothy
    Oct 24, 2019 at 19:09
  • 1
    I don't understand the downvotings. It's not a statement or proposal; it's just a question, and a useful one.
    – pglpm
    Oct 22, 2020 at 8:11

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
20

The main reason is that it would kind of destroy the system. When a post is first posted, the system doesn't know if it is bad or good, which is why we have voting. Voting is the system's primary way of finding the quality of a post.

The system tends to lean on the side of assuming a post is good - it trusts you to some extent, and assumes that you would vote it up if you could - you obviously thought it would be a worthwhile post, right?

Another problem: Unless these self-votes weren't counted, it would be a way to cheat your way to tag badges - badges awarded for having a certain number of upvotes in a tag.

Also, what's in it for you? We couldn't reward rep for such an action - you could get 5-10 rep for every post, be it good or bad, which would destroy the reputation system.

Since we wouldn't be able to award rep for it, all that would come of it is a new zero score: one. (and potentially a loophole for tag badges)

Improve this answer
1
  • 4
    all that would come of it is a new zero score: one Unless it wasn't counted it would also potentially affect tag toppers
    – Some Helpful Commenter
    Sep 20, 2013 at 20:54
14

Of course you should not be able to vote on your own posts. It is a given you think your own posts are helpful and / or well researched, that's why you posted them in the first place.

But the point of voting is that other people think your post is great too. That's not something you as a poster could ever objectively determine yourself.

Note that you cannot do so right now:

enter image description here

Improve this answer
2

Update 2019:

Voting for own answers/posts is still not possible. I also agree that it should not be possible at all. enter image description here

There's an experimental social media platform called Steemit.com where self-voting is allowed and it's causing the whole ecosystem being flawed..

Improve this answer
2
  • Don't most of the top social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Reddit) already allow you to upvote your own posts? (I'm not sure whether the algorithms consider it as an upvote, but we do have a option to do so)
    – Andhavarapu Balu
    May 6, 2021 at 10:52
  • 1
    Yeah, but it's shown publicly. Therefore many people don't do it to not be seen and "self-upvoters". In case of Steemit, the data are hidden. Same would be here on StackExchange as the upvotes are anonymous
    – DurkoMatko
    May 7, 2021 at 5:33

You must log in to answer this question.

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