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Is it possible to know who, if it's the owner (similar to accept, but just a vote) voted my question/answer up or down?

By this feature we can come to know if you are being voted up by question owner or persons giving other answers to same question or just the visitors of that question thread. Also, according to a comment on another post, "feature" means "how to do"; not add a feature request.

For example:

If it is a group of people giving other answers, then your answer is most correct If it is readers of that question, then your answer is more popular. Without identifying a specific user.

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    Can anyone find a FAQ for this? I expected one to exist (there's even a FAQ for comment voting), but failed to find it.
    – Arjan
    Sep 3, 2010 at 11:22

2 Answers 2

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That would start a flame war of people downvoting who downvoted them.

So, this feature should never be implemented to keep the smooth running of Stack Exchange sites.

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    thats true! thanks.. But generally when somebody votes down, then he/she should do that with valid comments why he voted down so that the ownder will come to know the real reason. Otherwise that can also be done notoriously.
    – Anil
    Sep 3, 2010 at 10:59
  • That's a different thing. The commenting on downvote can be made mandatory if that's what you want. Sep 3, 2010 at 11:05
  • @shamittomar: it isn't even accepted as an option, but if you like down-votes, go ahead and feature-request that once again... Sep 3, 2010 at 11:09
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    No need to create a new feature request; the best of two worlds is here already, right, @Anil?
    – Arjan
    Sep 3, 2010 at 11:25
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    Anonymous voting and mandatory comments have already been discussed to death on MSO.
    – user27414
    Sep 3, 2010 at 11:29
  • removed feature-request tag. thanks for the link @Arjan! I should have checked "Related questions" section before posting it.
    – Anil
    Sep 3, 2010 at 11:32
  • the votes should not be public. how ever the down wotes should have less inpact than the up votes
    – Shawn
    Jul 6, 2012 at 17:15
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No, you can't, and you shan't. A vote is a vote, no matter by whom.

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  • It would be good to require some sort of comment from the downvoter to explain the rationale for the downvote. With perfect anonymity and no obligation to justify the downvote, the power to downvote can be abused. A person could use it to harass another member, for example. Also, if there is a valid reason for the downvote, doing so without leaving a comment gives the OP no clue about how to improve the question by rephrasing it or adding more detail, etc.
    – Tim
    Dec 20, 2012 at 21:04
  • @Tim I actually feature-requested that, as an anonymous option though. Requiring it would yield some problems, e.g. experts with little time not down-voting answers and therewith giving others an indication to double-check it. There are some mechanisms to prevent selective down-votes. At least now there is the "please consider a comment" reminder... Dec 20, 2012 at 22:06
  • some more: meta.stackexchange.com/q/66020/146482, although here's the best argument: "-1 my cat's breath smells like cat food" Dec 20, 2012 at 22:10

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