Recently, a user posted several questions within the space of about a half hour. I downvoted four of them because I felt that they were poorly researched, and because they were out of the scope of the FAQ. The votes were close together because of the timing of the questions. Will the revenge down-vote script kick in? I feel that all of my votes were valid.
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I think you'll be okay, but I can't promise anything.– JSBձոգչCommented Aug 10, 2011 at 17:27
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2 Answers
The downvote script's functionality is deliberately kept a secret. After all, if details about when it triggers were available, people would basically dance around that line, never tripping it. As such, we cannot reveal the exact criteria of whether or not the downvote script will trigger for any instance.
As long as you're doing normal site activity, and not, say, actively seeking out posts across the site to downvote, then you shouldn't run afoul of the voter fraud script. It's not all that different from the cases where someone will have posted a lot of good answers in a short time - it may simply be a natural incident for one user to upvote all of those answers. As long as you're acting naturally, it shouldn't come up for you.
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Thank you for clarifying. I understand that telling us "if you make X votes, you will get caught" would make people vote X-1 times. Yes, I feel I am making normal votes because all of the questions popped up at once.– user10893Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 17:55
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Isn't it based at all on other date, like whether the down-voter was voted down by the down-votee before, i.e. if it was done in revenge? What if someone happens to come by my profile, sees lots of bad answers, and decides to check many more answers of mine to see whether I have posted a lot of bad stuff: that will probably not be possible, then? Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 17:56
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@Cerberus You know I can't answer those questions, but take heart - your moderators do have access to a simple voting record that can tell them of vicious trends, so they can be informed if you suspect voter fraud that isn't necessarily caught by the script, and they will investigate. Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 17:58
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@GraceNote: So there is no automated response to suspected fraudulent voting, i.e. the script or whatever it is pings a moderator, who will then proceed to validate or invalidate? Or is that a secret too. Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 23:06
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1@Cerberus There is an automated script. You don't have to rely on it, is all I'm saying. You can ask your moderators to look into stuff as well, if you suspect the nefarious. Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 23:16
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@GraceNote: I was rather concerned with what would happen if I noticed a user whose contributions I found sub par, then browsed his answers from his profile page, read a couple, and voted them down. I suppose we are not to do that. Commented Aug 11, 2011 at 1:06
@Simchona, I totally agree. Those questions showed lack of research and effort. To downvote, was the correct thing to do. Perhaps, if the down-vote script does kick in, it would show the one flaw in machines -- they can't tell appropriateness.
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3Machines are not flawed! Just look at all the movies in hollywood that taught us that! Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 17:27