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My first meta post. This question got me a downvote - but I have never seen the question before, and hadn't posted a comment or answer to it!!

It happened on March 19.

How does my rep get dropped by some random question I haven't even seen, let alone interacted with?

EDIT: Screenshot Attached. Notice now, though, that since asking this question in meta, the post in question has suddenly been removed and my rep gets a +1 yesterday. Hmmmm...

Screenshot of Downvote

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    Could you add a screenshot that shows the notification about the "downvote"?
    – Byte Commander Mod
    Commented Jun 3, 2017 at 13:59
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    Yes, please clarify what makes you think you got a downvote on that question. You didn't, and you didn't even get any downvotes at all on March19.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Jun 3, 2017 at 15:34
  • @ByteCommander, screenshot added.
    – Bevan
    Commented Jun 5, 2017 at 5:28
  • @terdon exactly - yet my rep got a hit on that date. See screenshot now added
    – Bevan
    Commented Jun 5, 2017 at 5:29
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    Is everything clear now? As Muru explained, the -1 is because you downvoted an answer which has since been deleted.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Jun 5, 2017 at 10:06

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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When you downvote somebody else's answer, they lose 2 rep and you lose 1 rep. From the FAQ:

You lose reputation when:

  • one of your questions or answers is voted down/not useful: −2
  • a post where you had successfully suggested an edit has been deleted (reputation page shows the cause as removed): −2
  • the account of a user who was the final approver of a suggested edit you made has been deleted (reputation page shows the cause as User was removed): −2
  • you vote an answer down/not useful: −1
  • ...

This is done to balance prevention of malicious downvoting on (possibly competing) answers vs encouragement of downvoting useless/harmful posts.

As the screenshot shows, you have downvoted an answer there, so you certainly have interacted with that post.

Reputation gains or losses are usually reversed when the post is deleted.

Your downvoting activity is not visible to others (even moderators) to protect you from revenge.

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    Hello Muru, I'm puzzled. "As the screenshot shows, you have downvoted an answer there, so you certainly have interacted with that post" - I read it that I received a downvote, not gave one. I cannot find any reference to me downvoting anything on this post (now deleted). In any case, the downvote has been refunded to me... but I still don't get what actually happened there. Thanks for your explanation, it helps.
    – Bevan
    Commented Jun 5, 2017 at 11:23
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    @Bevan it's a subtle distinction, but when you down vote a post, it says "downvoted" and when somebody else downvotes you, it says simply "downvote"
    – muru
    Commented Jun 5, 2017 at 11:28
  • Aha! OK, so I must have downvoted in my sleep or something. But that's a good sub-explanation of the terminology so +1 for that.
    – Bevan
    Commented Jun 5, 2017 at 11:30

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