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Currently, when a user with less than the required reputation needed to cast a vote on a post attempts to do so, they are shown this message:

Thanks for the feedback! Votes cast by users with less than [x] reputation are recorded, but do not change the publicly displayed score.

While it is technically correct in that their attempted vote is recorded as feedback, it's rather confusing. It implies that the vote is still recorded as...a vote, not as feedback. This can mislead users into thinking that their old votes will be counted once they reach the required reputation (also see its duplicates here as well as on per-site metas), or that such "votes" may still change the author's reputation (i.e. still a normal vote with the sole exception that it doesn't change the score).

Can we please change this message so that it no longer implies that an actual vote is recorded?

Examples:

Thanks for the feedback! You need at least [x] reputation to [up/down]vote this post.

or:

Thanks for the feedback! You need at least [x] reputation to cast a vote, but your feedback has been recorded.

In my opinion, the "Thanks for the feedback!" text implies to me that the feedback has been submitted and recorded; there's no need to point that out explicitly.

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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We ended up going with your second option:

Thanks for the feedback! You need at least [x] reputation to cast a vote, but your feedback has been recorded.

Thanks for the suggestion!

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  • The text is still confusing, because in case of downvote the 125 limit seems relevant to any cast. It should be changed dynamically to “ You need at least [x] reputation to upvote( or downvote)”
    – Michael Freidgeim
    Aug 14, 2021 at 6:52
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I find the proposed message

Thanks for the feedback! You need at least [x] reputation to cast a vote, but your feedback has been recorded.

to be confusing to new users (and most existing users), because >99% of users have no clue what "your feedback has been recorded" entails, and the remaining <1% don't really care about such feedback, so that's just wasting new users' time.

As a result, I'd suggest to replace it with something like:

Thanks for the vote! Unfortunately, you need at least [x] reputation to cast a vote.

or simply

Unfortunately, you need at least [x] reputation to cast a vote.

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    Hmm... Perhaps the "has been recorded" sentence could link to the SEDE query where those votes are listed, since the 10K page is obviously not available to those with <15. But I'm pretty sure they aren't going to change it since they just did.
    – Ollie
    Jun 13, 2021 at 23:10
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    @Ollie good point, otherwise link to some meta SE page with an explanation.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Jun 13, 2021 at 23:12
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    I personally am also not sure if this fits here since it already has a status-completed tag. Maybe a new question with the options you've listed here (and possibly the one I wrote above)? But I'll wait and see what happens.
    – Ollie
    Jun 13, 2021 at 23:14
  • @Ollie thanks, no idea either
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Jun 13, 2021 at 23:15

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