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Checking my recent activity, I noticed that [nearly] all of my posts were downvoted within a short span of a few minutes. It seems as though I've been the victim of a systematic downvoting spree.

What can I do if I suspect that someone has downvoted all my posts in retaliation or revenge? Is there something in place that will stop this kind of voting abuse? Do I have any possible avenues of recourse?

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  • 13
    Doesn't look random to me--they look systematic!
    – Stu Thompson
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 9:50
  • 1
    Well yes, of course. They're systematic because they appear to come from one single user, but they're random because the questions and answers that were downvoted seemed picked at random (except of course they were all mine).
    – Philippe Leybaert
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 9:52
  • 65
    Was nowhere near your questions, mate!
    – random
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 10:06
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    @random Answers man. Those were answers.
    – random
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 10:31
  • 3
    The good news is... I have tracked what I believe to be the culprit. I will discuss it with the team... I also think (not sure) that those downvotes have been cancelled.
    – Marc Gravell
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 22:01
  • Thanks Marc. I suppose I'll never know who's responsible for this, will I? BTW: the downvotes are still there. I don't really mind, but I'd hate to see it happen every day though.
    – Philippe Leybaert
    Commented Sep 14, 2009 at 5:44
  • His account on SO: stackoverflow.com/users/113570/philippe-leybaert
    – Brad Gilbert
    Commented Sep 14, 2009 at 18:26
  • 1
    Lol just happened to me! Almost all my answers and questions have been downvoted lol
    – Bruno Reis
    Commented Jan 18, 2010 at 1:42
  • 1
    Happened to me 'bout an hour ago - 4 downvotes on my highest answers, inside of a minute. Yet to see a reversal, but do the downvoters get their rep back too?
    – OMG Ponies
    Commented Mar 3, 2010 at 0:35
  • 1
    Nice "screenshot"...
    – Ponkadoodle
    Commented Jul 23, 2010 at 23:55
  • 1
    s/random/arbitrary/
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Commented Jul 9, 2011 at 14:55
  • See also: Serial Downvoting Victim
    – Chris Frederick
    Commented Oct 21, 2011 at 18:22
  • Hey, I'm also in a situation of constant downvotes for no reason at all...
    – user447378
    Commented Mar 10, 2019 at 9:27

7 Answers 7

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It just looks like you have gotten on the wrong side of somebody, and they have went on a downvoting rage against you.

SO runs scripts and checks for this kind of behaviour every 24 hours, so it should be fixed up soon.

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  • 9
    That's what I thought at first, but after checking all the downvoted answers, I couldn't find anything that could trigger this kind of behavior. The human race is a weird bunch of animals sometimes :)
    – Philippe Leybaert
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 9:48
  • True that. Someone, somewhere, was so unhappy with you that they said to themselves "I'll show him!" and went off on a down vote rampage.
    – Stu Thompson
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 9:52
  • The downvotes disappeared. Either the script has just run, or someone intervened and removed the downvotes (Or the downvoter came to his senses)
    – Philippe Leybaert
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 10:05
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    The downvoter couldn't "come to his senses" since the vote reversal time limits were in play -- unless you'd edited every single one of those questions & answers. However, I am glad the script is working out nicely there. Revenge downvoters suck.
    – John Rudy
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 15:03
49

enter image description here

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As already stated, there are automated processes to watch for this. Checking in a few places (your "recent" tab on SO, Jon's SO tracker, etc), it looks like this may have already been undone by the system.

If you think there is still a problem, flag for a ♦ moderator (or add a comment here), or e-mail the team (page footer). BTW; it makes it easier to investigate if you associate your SO/MSO accounts, plus you get free rep ;-p

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  • It happened again half an hour ago. I took your advice and e-mailed [email protected]. This is really sick.
    – Philippe Leybaert
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 20:27
  • stackoverflow.com/users/113570/philippe-leybaert
    – Brad Gilbert
    Commented Sep 14, 2009 at 18:27
  • or add a comment here? Some fellow just downvoted me a grip for downvoting one of his posts after commenting to me on it that it's a past-time of his to downvote people who downvote him.. Think you could fix it up for me?
    – Jimmy Hoffa
    Commented Aug 25, 2010 at 19:12
  • @Jimmy: You might be interested in this: meta.stackexchange.com/q/108538/133368
    – sbi
    Commented Oct 10, 2011 at 14:25
  • @Marc: Today I got serial downvotes, and I was looking for a moderator, I found yourself, Please let me know, what can I do in this situation.
    – Anoop Vaidya
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 7:10
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    @AnoopVaidya dealt with, thanks
    – Marc Gravell
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 7:40
  • @MarcGravell: Thanks Mark for reversing. Seeking another help - is there any way to know, who is/are the serial downvoter(s)?
    – Anoop Vaidya
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 7:51
  • @AnoopVaidya by me (and ♦ mods), yes: and I've already contacted the individual(s) responsible on the matter.
    – Marc Gravell
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 8:08
  • @MarcGravell Someone went on a downvoting spree yesterday and I was in their crosshair. It's been over 24h since it happened so do you mind taking a look at it when you got the time?
    – mekwall
    Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 16:27
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Serial-downvoting is a consequence of any anonymous community -- and there are systems in place to combat it. It is frowned upon, and I'm sure that if the user did it repeatedly they'd be asked (politely) to stop.

If you feel you've been the target of serial downvoting, flag one of your posts for moderator attention, and ask for a rep-recalc.

Also, there's an automated system that performs a vote 'undo' when a certain pattern of downvoting is seen, this could also be triggered.

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    Attribution? That's George's answer, lock stock and barrel. :)
    – John Rudy
    Commented Jan 13, 2010 at 15:11
  • And, that is exactly why you should upvote it rather than disrespectfully down-voting. Do it for Georgie.
    – Evan Carroll
    Commented Jan 21, 2010 at 16:26
  • I wasn't your downvoter here.
    – John Rudy
    Commented Jan 22, 2010 at 19:25
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    Why was this downvoted, its not wrong and has some useful tips/info.
    – mPP
    Commented Dec 7, 2010 at 3:43
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    @EvanCarroll +1 for Georgie
    – Michael
    Commented Oct 5, 2013 at 3:42
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Looks like you made enemies with some other user who is now downvoting your stuff. Contact the team (Contact us link at the bottom) so that they can reverse it any educate that user about the penalty-box.

Edit: Or not, wasn't aware of the automated checks. Leaving this here just as a sign of what not to do.

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    Philippe should wait to contact them. joshhunt is correct...SO is actively looking for these behaviors and it very well may be remedied soon.
    – Stu Thompson
    Commented Sep 13, 2009 at 9:49
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Just suffered a similar "storm of downvotes" myself, in the space of one-two minutes about an hour ago -- "just" nine of them, in my case, not twenty like Philippe had, but similarly "random fury" (the downvoter hit several of my questions and a random-ish sample of my answers). I will patiently wait for the cleansing script to run, and hope the script in question doesn't have a threshold of ten to identify "sabotage downvotes"!-).

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    Oi, don't go throwing names around like that willy-nilly.
    – random
    Commented Nov 8, 2009 at 3:14
  • I have a sudden urge to rename myself.
    – mmyers
    Commented Nov 8, 2009 at 7:03
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    ...and the script has apparently done its job now, the "sabotage downvotes" are gone.
    – Alex Martelli
    Commented Nov 8, 2009 at 16:26
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Happening to me (second time) now... this time it seams like a reply to a comment I did (just pointed a little error in the answer code). First time was because of a downvote I did (60% - 80% fixed).

But who cares, I lost 10+ received 100... and someone else got his revenge for my - just wanted to help - comment.

EDIT 2010-01-01:
seams like someone really got hurt :-(
5 additional down-votes this night/yesterday...
kind of childish.

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  • If it's a significant amount it'll get picked up by the automated systems and the down-votes removed and the rep restored.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Commented Dec 30, 2009 at 20:54
  • I think there's no need, seams like the down-votes where removed (eventually 2 left).
    – user141148
    Commented Dec 31, 2009 at 16:43

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