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Can we make it so people can undo up or down votes regardless of time voted? I want this feature request only on the meta sites. Can we do this? If not, why?

This would be helpful because sometimes on meta there is a feature and you down vote it, later you might think it's good. Then you will want to up vote it, but you can't!

Also, users can't ‘suggest edits‘ on meta.

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  • 3
    We can, but should we? Please edit your post to explain how you think this change would be beneficial.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 22:39
  • @AdamLear edited
    – TwentyCharMax
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 22:45
  • Why have you changed your mind/vote if the post hasn't changed?
    – Robert Longson
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 23:50
  • @RobertLongson because if there's a specific feature that you think is bad, but then you think is good, you can change it.
    – TwentyCharMax
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 0:07
  • Why would that happen?
    – Robert Longson
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 0:09
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    @RobertLongson Presumably because you vote before you actually understand what's being requested in the feature and, through comments perhaps it's clarified and you change your mind... or maybe some time passes and you realize that the issue being discussed actually is an issue... there are tons of explanations...
    – Catija
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 1:55
  • @Catija exactly
    – TwentyCharMax
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 3:10
  • How many times are you wanting to change your your mind? Just the original and one reversal?
    – PolyGeo
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 6:16
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    FYI, the meta tag is for questions specific to this site only, MSE. Also, it's not about the upvotes and downvotes themselves, but rather the process of locking them, which prevent undoing them.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 6:39
  • In a way this could make sense on meta. I can assume that changing you opinion on a post is something that can happen more easily here, where votes are meant to express agreement and not just "quality". Just imagine this scenario: you see a feature request that you initially deem unneeded, then some time later someone comes in and post an answer that makes you realize something you haven't considered before: at that time you may actually want to change your original vote on the proposal
    – ꓢPArcheon
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 9:20
  • That said, I am also pretty worried this would end up like Rathony describes in his answer: less attention given to votes, lots of changes every day and a general noise. So, while this could be useful in some edge chases, it should also have some sort of limitation. Maybe some (small) rep cost?
    – ꓢPArcheon
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 9:24
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    It's relevant for things like scope and policy discussions. Something got discussed back in 2011 and, based on context then, people voted. Time passed, the site changed, people's opinions changed.. and anybody who revisits that discussion finds his vote locked in. Sometimes the right thing to do is to start a new meta discussion, but sometimes being able to reconsider a vote in light of experience would be useful.
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 14:40

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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When you visit Help Center > Privileges > Vote Up and Vote Down, you can read

You have a limited number of votes per day, use them wisely.

It is better not to vote when you are not sure about the usefulness of any Meta post so that you don't have to think about undoing your vote. If we know we can undo our vote whenever we want, we will more likely spend less time judging the quality of a post before casting a vote. As long as we are more careful when voting, we don't need to undo our vote. But if you really want to cancel or reverse your vote,

You can leave a comment requesting the OP edit the post so that you can reverse your vote.

or

You can wait until an edit is made.

Should there be no edit, there is nothing we can do about it but move on. A lesson learned.

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  • I still want a mod to confirm this if it's going to happen or not going to happen
    – TwentyCharMax
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 13:20
  • @Alex Sure, you can wait for another answer or see the number of votes on this answer.
    – Rathony
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 13:29
  • I can read, it has 5 votes
    – TwentyCharMax
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 13:31
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    @Alex I didn't mean you can't read it. If a user agrees with my answer, they simply upvote it. If they don't agree, they will downvote it or write another answer. That's how it works here.
    – Rathony
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 13:42
  • look at my stack overflow profile and how long I've been in that site, I think that I know how stack exchange works
    – TwentyCharMax
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 14:15

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