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I once posted a question on site X that was closed. (That is, site X was closed, not my question.) A number of questions, including one of mine, were "migrated" to site Y. My question had received one or two upvotes on site X, and then some downvotes on site Y, where it ended up.

Suppose I "really" wanted to post on site Y, as a new user. If my first "real" question on site Y received a downvote, would the downvotes on the "migrated" question on site Y count against me for say, question bans or the 1-7 day waiting period (quality block) for posting another question? Or would I be allowed to start "fresh" on site Y with only the one downvote counting against me?

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  • Are you talking about migrated questions or is there another process if a site is closed?
    – Cai
    Commented Aug 30, 2016 at 12:03
  • @Cai: I meant "migrated" (and changed it in the question). Thanks for your help.
    – Tom Au
    Commented Aug 30, 2016 at 14:18
  • In that case, the question really is "do votes on your questions migrated to a site where you don't have an account, count towards bans etc once you do create an account?" right? The closed site part isn't really relevant, I don't think.
    – Cai
    Commented Aug 30, 2016 at 15:19
  • @Cai: Yes. What I mean is, I put the question on site X, where it was acceptable and upvoted, and it was not my decision to put it on site Y, where it drew downvotes. So does creating a (new) account on site Y allow me to start "fresh," there without the "legacy" issue.
    – Tom Au
    Commented Aug 30, 2016 at 17:24
  • Has the answer addressed your question?
    – user310756
    Commented Aug 31, 2016 at 23:25
  • @Yvette: I think so, I upvoted it (but like to wait 2-3 days before accepting to give others a chance.). I couldn't imagine who downvoted it, but somebody did, apparently.
    – Tom Au
    Commented Sep 1, 2016 at 2:04

1 Answer 1

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Firstly we're talking about one question, that has some downvotes and is not being flagged as spam or abusive, nor are we talking about a string of downvoted questions. There is not enough here to get an ip ban (afaik, as the algorithm is hidden in the sacred coffers of SE).

As for accounts, you can either create an account on site Y, linked to your current account on site X. Or you can start a new account on site Y that is separate. There are restrictions with IP addresses if a person is trolling the site, or has a post ban, to circumvent this, but as you have no account on site Y, there can be no ban. If you were to receive a post ban on site Y, there would be no option to create a second account to circumvent that ban.

The normal restrictions on multiple accounts apply. You are allowed to have multiple accounts, but:

  • there is no official support for that; it's down to you to ensure they're separated enough to not get merged
  • if you're doing something with one that you would be prevented from doing with the other (evading question blocks/suspensions, voting on your own posts), that's abuse and your accounts are liable to moderator deletion/suspension

You can create multiple accounts from the same IP address, using separate email addresses (logins), so there is authentication at the account level that will supersede the ip address, for clean (unbanned) ip addresses. If you have an account ban, that will be linked with you ip address. There can be no account ban, if there's no account. A downvoted question, at worst will be deleted. This is different of course, with spammers and trolls, where abusive or spam flags on a post start a roll out for mod attention, who can then initiate an account ban.

The ban also takes in account the IP address. If you browse from a shared computer, or from a location that gives the same IP address to many end users, it's enough that another user who was banned or triggers the ban, will affect everyone else accessing from the same location.

The rep on a site where you have a migrated question, site Y, with or without an account should not make a difference to your account standing on site X. Most post bans are on a per site basis.

The premise in this quote, from here, applies.

Migrations are not possible if your account is banned from asking questions on the destination site. The question will simply be closed as off topic, but not migrated.

For you to get an across site ban on SE, you'd need to be doing something far worse than getting one downvoted question on one of the sites.

Also, the account on site Y which has the migrated question would have the same rules applied to it, as if you had voluntarily posted the question there, as opposed to migrating it. All the down votes from the original site X would be dismissed, the upvotes carry across with the question.
Reset votes on migrated questions

So subsequent downvotes would be applied to a migrated question in the same way as if the question had been asked originally on the migrated site. So the potential for question ban would follow the same algorithm.

If you're worried about a ban, perhaps consider editing the question to improve it.

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  • This question was migrated from Meta.Puzzling, while it had 3 upvotes, and I got 15 rep here after the migration. Votes do carry over, it would appear.
    – Mithical
    Commented Aug 31, 2016 at 12:57
  • @Mithrandir yes good catch, I edited the question to reflect that thanks!
    – user310756
    Commented Aug 31, 2016 at 13:02
  • But do votes on the question when you don't have an account on that site carry over to your account once you do create an account? (which is the point of the question).
    – Cai
    Commented Aug 31, 2016 at 13:03
  • @Cai I've edited my answer for your question
    – user310756
    Commented Aug 31, 2016 at 13:10
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    "but as you have no account on site Y, there can be no ban" are we certain about that? The migrated question is automatically attributed to your account once you create the account so it's not unreasonable to think votes etc would be too
    – Cai
    Commented Aug 31, 2016 at 13:26
  • You can create multiple accounts from the same IP address, using separate email addresses (logins), so there is authentication at the account level and at the ip address. If you have an account ban, that will be linked with you ip address.
    – user310756
    Commented Aug 31, 2016 at 13:35

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