Is it selfish or frowned upon not to upvote another answer (even if its right) so yours will rise to the top faster?
I find myself wanting to un-upvote posts so my answer will do better... But I have been able to push back the evil thus far.
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Sign up to join this communityIs it selfish or frowned upon not to upvote another answer (even if its right) so yours will rise to the top faster?
I find myself wanting to un-upvote posts so my answer will do better... But I have been able to push back the evil thus far.
No-one is telling you how to vote, your votes are your own.
However, if you do upvote competing answers, there is a nice shiny silver badge to be earned: Sportsmanship.
Up voted 100 answers on questions where an answer of yours has a positive score.
unsportsmanlike
badge: 100 downvotes on questions where you have an answer.
– Joe
Jul 23 '13 at 18:07
I tend to revisit questions I answered when I notice a new upvote. After I revisit the question, I upvote the other (correct) answers. So (if other users act the same way) upvoting a "competing" answer leads to more upvotes on your answer. Having said that, for me, the gaming factor in Stack Overflow is not to have the highest scoring answer in each question, but to earn the maximum upvotes overall.
/posts/xx/timeline
to see on which day votes were cast. Like I feel that my late answer to some question is better than the first answer. In the timeline you'll see that often only the accepted, highest voted answer is upvoted. But sometimes both answers, or only my answer gets a vote. I don't care about reputation, but I find it amazing how things work. – Arjan Jul 23 '13 at 19:00