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I've just found a strange feature on Stack Overflow. When I am upvoting or downvoting anyone's answer, I cannot undo my upvote or downvote until the answer is edited (after the initial 5 mins).

I am aware of the fact that the feature is that we can undo the upvote or downvote only if the question or answer is edited.

But I have found that if I click on Edit button and don't change anything in the question or answer, and I try to undo my votes, then I am allowed to do so.

Steps that I followed:-

  1. I upvoted the question.
  2. Then after 28 minutes I opened the question again.
  3. Clicked on Edit.
  4. And just after that I reversed my upvote.
  5. then click the cancel button. And I was allowed to do so

Is this the usual behavior or I am missing some FAQ part?

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  • 3
    I can't seem to reproduce this.
    – user206222
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 7:58
  • Sir I have just made the same thing on Stackoverflow site. I wondered if I missed any part of the FAQ! Thats why I asked!
    – Rahul Tripathi
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:00
  • What I mean to say is that I've attempted to reproduce this, but still can't change my vote. I'm not sure why this works for you, though... It definitely shouldn't happen.
    – user206222
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:02
  • When you click "Edit", what do you next? Do you cancel the edit, then try to undo your vote? Or do you try to undo your vote with the edit window open?
    – psubsee2003
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:03
  • @psubsee2003:- I will tell the steps which I followed. I upvoted the question. Then after 28 minutes I opened the question again. Clicked on Edit. And just after that I reversed my upvote and then click the cancel button. And I was allowed to do so
    – Rahul Tripathi
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:04
  • 2
    Had someone else edited the post? I can't reproduce what you're describing.
    – Mat
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:07
  • @RahulTripathi Are you absolutely sure the post in question isn't in your edit history. As a 10K user, you can make inline tag edits which won't open up the edit window but still count as edits
    – psubsee2003
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:07
  • @Mat:- Sir I am very sure about this. I have just done this. Initially I thought that this is a normal behavior but I found in FAQ that it is not possible!
    – Rahul Tripathi
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:08
  • @psubsee2003:- Sir I am aware of all my edits which I have made but I have done this in a question in which I have upvoted. May be that I have missed anything but I am sure about my timings and steps!
    – Rahul Tripathi
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:10
  • 1
    @Mat:- Sir this was the link to the question. stackoverflow.com/questions/19615225/… Trust me I am not lieing. I have initially upvoted this question and also I had received 3 upvotes for this but later on I was able to able to retrack my upvote. I am aware that the last edit was done by me but I retracked my vote after 28 minutes of my edit
    – Rahul Tripathi
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:15
  • 3
    @RahulTripathi oh, then that is normal. Once the post is edited, your vote is unlocked until you vote again. There is no time limit once your vote is unlocked.
    – psubsee2003
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:24
  • 1
    Yep - a tag change is an edit and will unlock the vote.
    – Oded
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:32
  • 1
    What @Mat says is right. You voted. It got locked. Then you edited. It is no longer locked.
    – Oded
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:35
  • 1
    @Oded:- Ok got it. May be I missed something. But trust me I was able to do what I mentioned without editing any tags not even putting as . in the question. Anyways Thanks for your time. And Sorry if it was too obvious. Just thought to bring to your notice
    – Rahul Tripathi
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:41
  • 5
    No problem. We need people to tell us when they spot bugs. This didn't happen to be one, but the next one might be.
    – Oded
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 8:43

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Based on the comments, your steps to reproduce is missing a very key bit of information. You actually did edit the post after upvoting.

This comment of yours explains what you actually did

@psubsee2003 Yes firstly I upvoted say at 12:00 pm then I left the question with my answer. After say 10 minutes I edited the question with certain more tags and left it. And then after say 28 minutes ie, 12:28 pm I just followed the steps and was able to retrack my upvote. – Rahul Tripathi 7 mins ago

The fact is you did edit the post with a tag edit 10 minutes after upvoting it. Once you did that, your vote was unlocked and you were free to change it at any time until you voted again (there is no time limit to changing your vote once unlocked by an edit).

The type of edit doesn't matter. As long as it generates a revision in the post's history, then the vote is unlocked. It does not become locked again until you vote again (and then only after 5 minutes). Once it is relocked, it can't be changed until there is another edit.

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