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Not a rant, just curiosity :)

In this question from Jan 2013, I answered normally (not my best answer ever, but still worth reading I guess, and it gained one upvote).

Another answer was marked as accepted. Nothing strange then.

Except for the fact that today, the user who has written the accepted answer edited both the question and the answers (all the edits was a one-character "fake" edit), and removed the upvote from my answer.

No downvote, just upvote removal... that is strange, because when someone really doesn't like an answer, usually he/she downvotes it. Amazed by this curious gravedigging, I've run the Have We Met? query on SEDE, and the result was that we never met. I don't really care when I got some random downvote, but this "upvote-removal" has been so weird that led me to ask this question:

Is fake-editing other answers / questions to be able to alter the vote casted to them legit? Should this kind of behavior be flagged for Moderator attention?

As a side-question: any clue on what happened? I know I can ask him, and I probably will, but I'm more interested in your (hopefully) funny comments right now...

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  • 5
    Related : Locked votes can be changed by editing a post
    – Himanshu
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 8:25
  • 1
    Maybe they were at the vote cap and thought that by un-upvoting they would get an extra vote today (which I don't believe is true)
    – Richard Tingle
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 8:43
  • 3
    I would say it's bad behaviour to make a minor edit just to remove your upvote, but what do you expect from the moderator? To re-upvote your answer?
    – Dirty-flow
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 8:48
  • @hims056 comment answered the main question... if Jeff said this is legit, it simply is :) BTW the side question is still open; I'll invite him here to explain, just for the records :)
    – Andrea Ligios
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 8:51
  • @RichardTingle nice guess, twisted enough :D I see your comment, raise it "he clicked by mistake" :)
    – Andrea Ligios
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 9:05
  • I'm wondering if it's one of the sock puppets.
    – Dave Newton
    Commented Oct 8, 2013 at 18:21
  • 1
    The irony of this last edit amuses me.
    – Catija
    Commented May 25, 2016 at 18:48

2 Answers 2

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I think reverting votes is not the issue here, making extremely trivial edits is.

No matter what your motivation for editing is – earning reputation/badge, reverting your vote, and/or you just like 'em posts nice and tidy – the thing that matters the most is that your edit should be (somewhat) substantive.

I think most of us would agree that edits that

  • replaces a single lowercase letter to uppercase.
  • removes a single instance of bold formatting
  • removes a single pair of double quotes

are extremely trivial.

If someone is still unconvinced of the triviality of the edit(s), consider:

  • the age of the post(s): the mentioned question is a little more than 6 months old
  • the traffic of the question: 173 views up until the time of writing

It's fairly safe to say that the question and its answers are relatively old and relatively unimportant to the general audience. If one intends to bump up a question like this, he needs to have a very good reason to do so (such as making a substantive/substantial improvement). I don't think the aforementioned edits constitute a good reason for bumping that old question.

Having >2k reputation gives you the privilege to make any edit you want to any post. However, it doesn't mean you should make very trivial edits (regardless of what your motivation is). It's not healthy for the system.

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-12

I can up/down vote any question/answer anytime and it's my choice to revert my decision. It also happened to me on my answer/question – people down/up vote it, and then they revert their decision. Reverting votes is not a big deal, but FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, I think, is a big deal.

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    We're more curious, you can of course vote as you see fit
    – Richard Tingle
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 9:34
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    The question is: Is it appropriate to perform too minor/fake edit just to revert our vote?
    – Himanshu
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 9:34
  • 2
    I'm actually more interested in why you did it (that is the side question)... be cool, I won't downvote you (here nor in SO), I'm just curious.
    – Andrea Ligios
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 9:35
  • 3
    and, of course, you can't revert your vote at any time... that's why you had to abuse the editing system and make fake edits.
    – hayd
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 9:36
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    I feel downvoting this is counter productive, we do want an answer after all
    – Richard Tingle
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 9:37
  • I m cool and i m not worried about downvotes as well... and this is the fact i told in my answer,
    – NoNaMe
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 9:37
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    did you think "hey my answer was accepted, and I upvoted other answers, but no-one upvoted back... screw this, I'm going to un-upvote" ?
    – hayd
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 9:45
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    @zzzz then what possible reasoning was there to fake edit and un-upvote, it certainly had nothing to do with getting help or answering. Inarguably it was "poor form".
    – hayd
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 9:52
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    The fact that you are digressing this way is generating hype and incrementing our curiosity :D Are you telling us that it will remain unsatisfied ? :( C'mon!
    – Andrea Ligios
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 10:14
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    Bah... nobody is saying you are not free, just arguing why you freely decided that way with your free Free Will...
    – Andrea Ligios
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 10:20
  • 2
    I am free to walk out into the street and sing the complete ABBA collection backwards while hopping on one leg. I think why would still be a fair question
    – Richard Tingle
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 10:23
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    Ahah top trolling :) Ok, feel free to change your mind and post here all the dirtiest details, I'm gonna close it here... so long and thanks for all the fish ;)
    – Andrea Ligios
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 10:27
  • 5
    Well, at least you are not oscillating.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 11:09
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    @ShaWizDowArd That is exactly what this answer and the comments on it remind me of :D
    – Doorknob
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 11:44
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    So now our new answers to everything: "Caching. Always caching." "6-8 weeks." "Oscillation." "Freedom of thought." :P
    – Doorknob
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 12:51

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