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Will a downvote from a user below 125 give you reputation penalty (-2)?

I just want to know how it works. I tried to register a new account and downvoted on one of my answers. I didn't get the -2 penalty.

But I wonder if a user with higher reputation (higher than 1, but below 125) would make me lose 2 reputation when downvoting one of my answers.

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    In short: No, you won't get any reputation decrease ir increase as long the vote isn't counted.
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 10:33
  • Note that each site lists privileges that can be earned. Find it on each site's help section. On Meta. SE, e.g., any user who has earned 100 or more in reputation, can downvote posts (and those downvotes are accompanied by -2 in rep to the poster). On math.se, on the other hand, and most SE sites, a user needs 125+ rep in order to downvote a post in such a way. Prior to the rep threshold, any downvotes cast will not be seen by other users, nor will there be any point loss to the poster.
    – amWhy
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 16:15
  • SP999: "But I wonder if a user with higher reputation(higher than 1 but below 125) would make me lose 2 reputation when downvoting one of my answers." No, they can't, on a site on which the reputation threshold to cast a downvote is greater than or equal to 125. (Before that threshold is met by a user, any attempt by that user to downvote will have no impact whatsoever.
    – amWhy
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 16:43
  • I'm afraid, @rene, that this question has not yet been asked/answered directly. Hence my comment to you, and my "answer" for the OP, which is very straightforward when on links to site "privileges", and the reputation thresholds to acquire them, and is not currently available in the FAQ, nor in answers to questions about "What is reputation?" See my comment above. No such answer yet exists on Meta.SE., just as this question is not a duplicate. Take a look for yourself, because you might know better phrasing of the question. I queried "Who can downvote"? "When can I downvote,"...
    – amWhy
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 17:27
  • ... but nothing explaining downvoting as a privilege granted to users (and only those users) who meet or exceed the current rep threshold required.
    – amWhy
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 17:31
  • You need to be careful when performing such experiments. Voting on your main account from another account is not allowed and classed as sock-puppetry. "Users found to be abusing sock puppets will have such accounts deleted and their main account will be suspended or deleted."
    – DavidPostill
    Commented Jun 30, 2019 at 12:01

2 Answers 2

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No, a downvote from someone with less than 125 reputation points (or anonymous users) will not cost you any points. Those votes are recorded and you can find them in either the data.stackexchange tables or once you have enough privileges they are shown in the site tools.

The downvotes won't suddenly count if you go over 125 reputation points. You would have to go back and redo them. However, downvoting answers costs the voter 1 reputation point so you might then losing your downvoting privileges.

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  • can someone be suspended for spam--downvoting below the reputation of 125 or 100?
    – Fourier Pikachu
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 15:49
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Note that each site lists privileges that can be earned. Find it on each specific site's help section, under the heading privileges. On Meta. SE, e.g., any user who has earned 100 or more in reputation, can downvote posts (and those downvotes are accompanied by -2 in rep to the poster).

On math.se, on the other hand, and most SE sites, a user needs 125+ rep before they can downvote a post in such a way.

Any/all downvotes cast by a user who has not yet met that rep threshold will not be seen by other users, nor will there be any point loss to the poster. Those early votes will have no future effect on the poster receiving an unqualifying downvote from a user that lacks the privilege to downvote at the time of their downvote, even after the downvoter later gains more rep.

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  • No future effect isn't 100% correct. Those votes are logged and stored and can trigger things like winter bash hats, maybe even future badges.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 22:26
  • @ShaWiz there is no future effect on the user whose post is "fake downvoted" by another who hasn't gained the privilege to downvote posts.
    – amWhy
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 22:47
  • No negative effect, true, and that won't change. But positive feedback might give some positive thing like a badge at some point, that's what I meant.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 30, 2019 at 6:36
  • Hmm very nice to
    – new Q Open Wid
    Commented Jan 14, 2021 at 13:10

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