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Ok, so this meta post isn't so much a "can I ask" but a "I am asking". Though I suppose if meta isn't the place for such a thing then "can I ask" may be worth addressing.

I woke up this morning to find that someone had decided go through and downvote a bunch of my posts.

downvotes and rep loss

Normally I wouldn't care too much about getting downvoted - if I've made a mistake, someone disagrees, or I'm just plain wrong then that's fine, that's the system and community working - but in this case I feel as if someone's specifically targeting me and downvoting because they don't like me or perhaps they feel I've wronged them in some way.

At the end of the day the rep loss doesn't worry me, if you don't like me that's fine, I'm a big boy, I can live with that and move on, but I would like to try and address the issue and ask what I have seemly done to wrong a user, what I can do to improve in that area, and whether we can resolve the problem.

P.S. I'm not looking to get anyone in trouble, I just wish to resolve the issue before it potentially gets out of hand. If not then I'll just leave it and move on.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Looks like they mis-clicked on the lizard-monk one? Seriously, though, there are tools we have to look into this, and I'm figuring out how to use them right now =) \$\endgroup\$
    – nitsua60 Mod
    Aug 26, 2017 at 1:22
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    \$\begingroup\$ It's fixed! For me, at least. \$\endgroup\$
    – Miniman
    Aug 26, 2017 at 3:06
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Miniman for me as well. Makes me feel a bit better knowing it wasn't just me then :,D. \$\endgroup\$
    – Purple Monkey
    Aug 26, 2017 at 3:10
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    \$\begingroup\$ See What is serial voting and how does it affect me? on the general stackexchange meta \$\endgroup\$
    – Philipp
    Aug 27, 2017 at 15:09
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    \$\begingroup\$ Don't worry, besides the automated vote reversal we've taken corrective action. \$\endgroup\$
    – mxyzplk
    Aug 28, 2017 at 1:41

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Though you can ask we can't answer due to votes being a private affair. Never fear though: all kinds of targeted-voting is detected by the system and, when the daily scripts run, it reverses the votes that are part of the offending vote pattern. Targeted voting is contrary to our goals of having votes reflect content quality, so though even targeted votes should remain private, we don't want them to continue existing.

Mods have some tools for inspecting voting patterns in aggregate, so we can also track down the culprit(s) manually when need be, such as to issue warnings or suspensions. We know who's responsible and will take appropriate action, if necessary.

Do let us know if the votes aren't reversed within 24 hours — in this case it seems unlikely that the system would miss it, but when it does the votes can be manually reversed by us contacting a Staff member.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

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    \$\begingroup\$ Huh. I was unaware additional tools of these kinds were available to moderators. Should I have complained about 18 mo. ago when every single one of my answers—no matter how good—was downvoted almost immediately when each answer was posted? Could a mod have told me if I had a downvote stalker? \$\endgroup\$
    – Hey I Can Chan
    Aug 26, 2017 at 5:56
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    \$\begingroup\$ @HeyICanChan You could have, yes! (A flag on one of your downvoted posts is another way to get our attention with less fanfare, so there are options.) Likely the damage was automatically reversed the next day, so no harm done leaving it uninvestigated. The trouble in some cases is that it gets repeated, and then additional manual corrective measures become more helpful. But it's always fine to enquire. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Aug 26, 2017 at 6:19
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    \$\begingroup\$ (I think—given its current 13 upvotes—that it might be wise to incorporate our brief conversation here into the body of your answer!) \$\endgroup\$
    – Hey I Can Chan
    Sep 8, 2017 at 16:12

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