I downvoted someone's answer, and now they're leaving incorrect answers on all of my questions. What should I do? [closed]

Question

Someone got upset and is following me around arguing in other questions' comments sections, and posting "answers" that are not actually answering the question that's asked. They won't move conversations to chat, and are leaving long comment chains if I respond. I tried not responding for a little over an hour, but they kept adding "answers" to my questions and questions I answered, and is singling me out when they do so. Is their behavior something I can do anything about? How would a moderator decide if they needed to take some sort of action?

I would be open to the idea that this was just a small world issue, but they're taking an aggressive tone, are specifically responding to me when leaving answers and comments, and are singling me out when they do so.

Here are some questions they responded to:

• Can my school force me to use applications or a school-issued computer if I do not agree with the terms of use for that application? Their answer ignores the original question and seems to be responding to my answer instead.

• How are employer pay statues enforced against offending employers? On the question at the top they start a long comment chain where they ignore what is being asked and try to argue about another matter (relating to employers requiring direct deposit, which is covered by other statutes). Their answer ignores what is actually being asked (which is about government agencies prosecuting), just says to sue in state court, and then complains about being downvoted.

• An employer is breaking multiple laws, but is doing so from another state. What venue do I sue in? Their answer ignores the question and engages in a long argumentative comment chain without actually answering my question.

I tried disengaging (as suggested in one of the answers below) but they were still responding to new questions over an hour later. I've updated this question and added links to examples as there were several who asked for that.

Is this sufficient to get the mods involved? Is there some way I can put them on ignore so they won't see my questions or won't keep following me around? How does this sort of situation work?

Answer 1

Yes all of this is way more than enough to warrant a flag

Flags are a tool that you can and should be using to let moderators know of issues that they should be aware of and/or handling.

Situations where this is definitely appropriate:

• Excessive arguing in post comments
• If you think a user is harassing you
• Consistent problematic behavior

For problematic answers you can:

• Downvote
• Flag (Very Low Quality, Spam, Rude/Abusive, or Not an Answer as appropriate)

Your situation could be a combination of any/all of the factors above. It's hard for an outside observer to tell what all the issues might be, a local mod will have a much better idea (because they are more familiar with the people, rules, and usual methods of dealing with things on that site than we are).

Do whatever things you think are appropriate for each answer. Flag for a mod on one of the posts with a custom message. Include a link to this post.

Meanwhile, just don't engage with the user. They are digging their own hole, let them do it and don't spend any more energy on them.

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Note: this was answered before the question went through a major revision that added a lot of details and context. Below is the general advice that I gave that still holds true.

Disengage

As much as you can, disengage from the user. You don't have to bite when someone tries to start an argument under your answer and certainly not when they are under others'. After not engaging, if the behavior continues you should...

Flag for a moderator

When you are encountering behavior on a site that a normal user can't handle, the best thing to do is flag it. Flag a comment or post of that user with a custom message and the local moderator will look into it. Since comments aren't searchable, it is going to help if you give as much information as you can within the limits of a flag (links to examples eg).

In the case that a moderator can't handle it fully (in the case of cross-site activity that they can't see, eg) they may bump it up to a CM to look at.

This may just be a small-site thing or a coincidence (or not)

On many sites, there are power users who are active on many of the questions that get posted on the site. This can be especially true of small sites (which is what you look to be active on). That could give the impression that they are following you, when they are simply just being very active on the site.

However, being a very active user doesn't mean that they aren't also doing something wrong. They certainly aren't mutually exclusive.

It is definitely worth notifying a moderator if it is something that worries you though and it certainly could to turn out that this user is behaving inappropriately, just be ready to be open for other explanations as potential reasons for the behavior as well.

Answer 2

That user is known to be "difficult" and provides many low quality answers on Law.SE, being solely active in that community. Law is not usually a very active community and you happened to ask 4 questions there today, so unfortunately you drew much of his attention today. I don't think he's targeting you in any way, it's simply that you have posted many of the questions today. I too would like to see the mods do more to reign him in; but in the meantime, downvoting his non-answers and flagging any particularly rude comments is the way to go.

Answer 3

You have a formidable tool in the fight against low-quality content - the downvote. Downvoting incorrect, poorly-researched, or otherwise low-quality content is valued. If too many of a user's posts get downvoted, they can lose significant amounts of rep and become subject to the mighty weapon in the war against low-quality, the answer ban.

To be clear, don't specifically target the user (e.g. visiting their profile and reviewing their posts in turn), but individually reviewing and voting on answers to your own questions is clearly within the bounds of acceptability. Are they low-quality? Downvote them. Do they not answer the question? Downvote them. Are they link-only? Downvote them and flag them as Not An Answer (NAA). Are they actually ads for dietary supplements? Downvote them and flag them as spam.