2

I downvoted Karl's answer to this question through carelessness and ignorance, but I can't now reverse my vote. Is there any way round this?

I'm still (forelornly, it seems) hoping for more feedback on the question. I now realise I've probably been mistaken for decades in thinking that the Fanny Adams origin of Fuck All was an urban myth. But I can't help thinking there's some 'hidden' principle allowing this apparently quirky turn of phrase to become so widespread, with such a range of different expletives.

In the absence of any more definitive exposition of this principle (MrHen's answer moves in that direction but doesn't quite do it for me), I feel I must formally Accept Karl's answer. Does this mean I may as well abandon all hope of anyone else posting an answer that addresses the underlying mechanism facilitating the widespread adoption of the usage?

2 Answers 2

2

To reverse a vote, click the same arrow again. If the vote-changing window has expired and your vote is locked in, I believe it is acceptable to edit the answer (adding an invisible comment, for example), and then revoking the mistaken vote.

5
  • Thanks. It did seem to work, in that I added a comment, after which clicking on Downvote changed the rating from -1 to 0. Flushed with success, I immediately clicked on Upvote, but the rating reverted to -1 instead of going up to +1. And now it's telling me this is 'locked in' for 2 days, whereas before it only said 1 day. Apr 5, 2011 at 15:38
  • @FumbleFingers: Hmm. It seems somebody other than you has also downvoted that answer. Is it possible that you accidentally double-clicked the upvote button?
    – Marthaª
    Apr 5, 2011 at 17:37
  • Well I did give some thought to my online nick, so I may well have done. One of the problems with this site is there's no 'sandbox' to try things out. (not that I want to sound critical - in toto it's a great site!) Apr 5, 2011 at 18:07
  • @FumbleFingers: there's a formatting sandbox over at the meta Meta. I think no one will take offense if you use it to test how voting works.
    – RegDwigнt
    Apr 12, 2011 at 9:47
  • @RegDwight: Thanks for the sandbox link. It's also nice to be reminded that a topic doesn't necessarily become 'stale' here on EL&U Apr 12, 2011 at 10:59
1

To do this after some time has passed, you'll have to edit the post or get the post edited. Then you can reverse your vote.

(Whether this is kosher or not depends on the content of the edit, or the disposition of the Cabal.)

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .