3

I'm not used to getting a great deal of downvoting on my answers but I have negative 3 on this one.

Please help me understand “humbler wall”

That's not a problem. People disagree and they are entitled to. What surprised me is that the answer seems to be disappearing visually.

My question is, does this answer appear 'faded' to everyone who sees it? When does this kick in -- does it happen at 3 downvotes?

Given that I am happy with my answer and don't intend to withdraw it, what consequences (apart from semi-invisibility) are there?

Does it get progressively more insubstantial as it becomes less popular? Does something dire happen when I reach, say, -10?

As I say, I'm not complaining about downvotes, I'm just interested in the process. What happens next if there are more downvotes and what will the ultimate consequences be. Will the answer disappear altogether?

Thanks.

P.S. I'm hoping someone knows because otherwise my curiosity is likely to get the better of me and I'm going to have to give a truly preposterous answer to some question just to see how unpopular I can make it.

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  • 2
    Nothing happens other than fading at -3. It's a system-wide setting which has been addressed on MSE
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Oct 11, 2015 at 21:27
  • Thanks, and (via your link) this meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/281740/… was very informative.
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Oct 11, 2015 at 21:42
  • 5
    On Meta, I believe, questions that cross a threshold of -8 or (it may be) -10 net votes vanish from the list of recently asked questions, although they remain in the system in some sort of Romulan-cloaked state of semi-invisibility. I'm sorry that the Meta system does that, because sometimes an unpopular question here can spark thoughtful and useful answers.
    – Sven Yargs
    Oct 12, 2015 at 0:51
  • Fascinating Captain. Do you have an example? I'd like to examine a highly downvoted meta. EDIT As a matter of fact, this one has -12 and yet it is still uncloaked as far as I can tell. meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/7017/…
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Oct 12, 2015 at 0:56
  • I think questions with a net vote of -3 or less get hidden from the frontpage (recent questions view), but they'll still be visible on their author's page or from searches or tags etc.
    – curiousdannii
    Oct 12, 2015 at 1:00
  • But I see the -12 one right now. It's in the right hand RELATED column ----->
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Oct 12, 2015 at 1:03
  • 3
    I remember that Erik Kowal asked an interesting and provocative question some months ago: Should askers who never 'accept' answers be penalized in some way? At its lowest ebb in popularity, this question fell to -9 or -10 net (it's now back up to -6), and dropped out of sight, even though it was still one of the most recent questions asked on Meta at the time. Because Meta invites upvoting/downvoting on an agree/disagree basis, good questions sometimes get bombed.
    – Sven Yargs
    Oct 12, 2015 at 1:10
  • The "RELATED" sidebar (at right) clearly operates on a different algorithm...
    – Sven Yargs
    Oct 12, 2015 at 1:12
  • The Erik Kowall question did not show up on the active page when I answered, and after being edited. That is when I discovered this meta policy, which frustrated me, after the edit the question got a few more upvotes. So, you could, if you wanted, edit the -12 question and see whether that appears on the front active page on meta or not, as a way of testing.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Oct 13, 2015 at 5:32

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