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I have down-voted an answer and left a comment asking the user to add more details to his answer. I always tend to leave a comment when I down-vote a question/answer to explain the reason of my action.

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This happened many times and it started to be annoying. It's not about reputation, it's about down-voting an accepted correct answer without a reason. I also left a comment notifying the user that revenge isn't a good behavior, but I got no response from him.

I flagged the answer and explained to moderator asking for intervention. I got an answer after eight days and it was disappointing unfortunately.

All I'm asking is such users should be warned for behaving in a such way.

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Down-voting:

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    How do you know it was that user who turned around and down-voted you? Did they comment to you? Voting is anonymous so do you have any proof it was that user?
    – Taryn
    Sep 19, 2013 at 12:51
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    Your question seems to be missing a paragraph - as it reads, you think it is annoying that you leave a comment after downvoting. I'm sure that's not the intention of this question.
    – user213634
    Sep 19, 2013 at 12:52
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    So are you upset by the fact that the moderator didn't do something? Or because of the specific response?
    – psubsee2003
    Sep 19, 2013 at 12:54
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    I don't see where you asked the moderators for intervention. You just asked them why?. Also voting is anonymous for moderators too. So they can't check a single revenge downvote. If there is serial voting, it will be reversed automatically. If not reversed then you can flag.
    – Himanshu
    Sep 19, 2013 at 12:56
  • And see meta.stackexchange.com/questions/75966/….
    – Rosinante
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:06
  • @AndersUP: Yeah, don't know how I messed that up.
    – sth
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:09
  • @sth Sometimes that stuff can be a bit mind-numbing to put straight!
    – Andrew Barber
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:10
  • related: Allow moderators to reply to a flag
    – gnat
    Sep 19, 2013 at 14:50
  • @bluefeet either newest accepted answer or highest voted accepted answer get down vote revenge. Not to mention that jQuery-Mobile has less traffic than jQuery and other major languages/libraries. If it was java or c++ I would think twice before accusing/blaming anyone.
    – Omar
    Sep 19, 2013 at 16:39
  • @Omar Regardless, no matter how confident you might be, you can still be wrong. I've been in situations where someone was absolutely sure that I downvoted them when I didn't, or where someone was absolutely convinced that someone else downvoted them and I knew it was me. You just can't know, you can only guess.
    – Servy
    Sep 19, 2013 at 16:49
  • @Servy When you leave a comment with no response whatsoever? I'd defend myself straightaway.
    – Omar
    Sep 19, 2013 at 16:54
  • @Omar You still don't know, as I said. You might be rather confident in your guess, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a guess. Even if he told you he downvoted you you still can't know if he's telling the truth.
    – Servy
    Sep 19, 2013 at 16:58

2 Answers 2

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I'm the one who declined your flag. As you noted in your screen shot, this is what your flag said:

Why whenever I downvote a bad answer I get a revenge? I've left a comment for why I've downvoted his answer, also, a comment notifying the user that "revenge" is a bad idea. I've been through the same many times and downvoters never leave a comment. Thank you in advance

Your big focus there seemed to be the phenomenon of getting 'revenge' down votes for leaving comments when down voting; that in fact was your question in your flag. My flag response was meant to answer your question. My flag decline was meant for the reasons Bill the Lizard notes in his answer

That said, I could have been a bit more clear and explained a bit better what I meant. Basically, what I said above probably should have been included.

Also, there is one particular word in my flag response that I think was just plain a mistake: "often". I should probably have said "at times".

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    While I understand the intention, I feel you could have phrased it differently.
    – asheeshr
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:10
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    @AsheeshR You are absolutely correct there. In fact, I almost didn't leave a flag comment at all... but since I did, I could have been a bit more clear about it. Editing to reflect that.
    – Andrew Barber
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:12
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    @AsheeshR Keep in mind the limitations of responding in a flag decline message; he only has a few hundred characters to describe a complex behavior. Any good answer would really need to come from a meta question, not a flag response.
    – Servy
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:28
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    @Servy Definitely a good point there, too; I can see the situation requiring a little back and forth.
    – Andrew Barber
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:30
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    @Servy Yes. I am well aware.
    – asheeshr
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:31
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    I admit that I didn't express myself clearly enough; however, I was reaching out for help from a moderator, and was expecting a solution after 8 days of anticipation. I just knew that votes are anonymous to moderators.
    – Omar
    Sep 19, 2013 at 16:33
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    @Omar Just to be clear here; my answer is saying that I was not clear enough in my response; not that you weren't clear.
    – Andrew Barber
    Sep 19, 2013 at 16:34
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I understand that this can be frustrating, but we're not going to be able to give someone a warning for one downvote for several reasons.

  • Votes are anonymous (even to moderators), so we don't have any proof that it was this person who downvoted you.
  • The warning would be empty. How could we enforce it? Votes are anonymous.
  • How do we know that the downvote wasn't for some other (legitimate) reason?

If there's a pattern of many downvotes from a single user in a short period of time, they will be reversed automatically. If we notice that a user engages in this type of behavior frequently we'll send them a warning. If it continues we'll suspend them.

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    I agree with what you wrote, but if downvoting causes a "Consider commenting" encouragement to appear, and then moderator tells it's his fault, he shouldn't have commented, something is wrong. Please be consistent.
    – Mołot
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:01
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    @Mołot That is not what the moderator said though.
    – Bart
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:02
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    @Bart That is what is implied by the phrasing. It should have been phrased differently.
    – asheeshr
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:03
  • @Bart it was paraphrase presenting how mod's responce felt. Edited it to not look like a quote, to avoid misunderstandings.
    – Mołot
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:05
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    Not really @AsheeshR. It states a fact. A fact many of us have experienced first hand. The whole issue of blame is really you reading too much into the message.
    – Bart
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:05
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    @Mołot The moderator didn't say he shouldn't have commented. He said leaving comments can cause this. He can just accept that some people won't respond favorably and move on.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:06
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    That is saying that the warning we get when downvoting is incomplete, it should warn that leaving a comment on downvoting can cause the "offended" person that you downvoted might downvote you too! In short, leave a comment at your own "risks".
    – Jonathan Drapeau
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:08
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    So basically site says we should comment and moderators says we should accept downvotes caused by these comments? But that does not meant we shouldn't comment? Doesn't it feel awkward for you, @BilltheLizard ?
    – Mołot
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:10
  • @Mołot See my answer, too; basically, my flag comment was addressing the specific question the OP was asking in the flag.
    – Andrew Barber
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:11
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    @Mołot You should comment so that people know why you downvoted and they can fix the problem. Some small number of people will downvote you out of spite instead. Most people won't. It's a net positive. I don't see what's awkward about that.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:13
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    @Mołot How does statement "A" and "if A, then sometimes B" translate to "not A"? If you choose to not comment after a downvote because of anticipated retaliations, then that's fine. However, that's not how I read the flag message. The message just asks you to be realistic, because after all, behind the votes and numbers is a human being who can (and will) be irrational.
    – Lorem Ipsum
    Sep 19, 2013 at 13:25
  • Thank you for your answer. I didn't know that votes are anonymous to moderators.
    – Omar
    Sep 19, 2013 at 16:29

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