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I found https://stackoverflow.com/users/-1/community user at stackoverflow today, but not getting what kind of user is this, is it from StackOverflow or its a fake account which is only made to cast downvotes (12654 downvotes).

The userid in the URL is -1 :)

Is it from Stackoverflow team or its a fake account, if so can't we block such type of users who just made to make downvotes.

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2 Answers 2

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Tells you right in the gray box on the user page:

Hi, I'm not really a person.

I'm a background process that helps keep Stack Overflow clean!

I do things like

  • Randomly poke old unanswered questions every hour so they get some attention
  • Own community questions and answers so nobody gets unnecessary reputation from them
  • Own downvotes on spam/evil posts that get permanently deleted

And now for the misinformative answer!:

This is an evil and manipulative ploy of the site's creators to pseudorandomly keep people's reputations in check so they don't "lose interest" in the site ;-)

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Community is the automated user account that performs many of the system functions.

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  • But 12654 downvotes, Is it fine to cast downvotes automatically?
    – djmzfKnm
    Commented Jul 21, 2009 at 3:54
  • 1
    It is casting down votes automatically when you flag items as Spam or Offensive.
    – TheTXI
    Commented Jul 21, 2009 at 3:56
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    It is not actually casting the down-votes. What it does is takes the down-votes that other people have cast on spam/offensive questions as its own, so the original down-voter doesn't lose rep.
    – DeadHead
    Commented Jul 21, 2009 at 5:00
  • Where do the 184 upvotes come from? They can't be CW posts, there are single questions and answers that have more votes than this.
    – user102937
    Commented Sep 24, 2009 at 5:21

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