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Recently I have lost 2 reputation points for merely looking at a question, comments and an answer (1 point for reading the question "Large cardinals in $ZF$ + $DC$ + $AD$, and 1 point for reading the question "How many of the true sentences are provable"). Why (please explain)?

screenshot of MO notifications showing rep losses

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    $\begingroup$ May I ask how you linked your reputation change to looking at questions? I have no idea how I could find out such information. I cannot see from my tools that you have interacted with the first question (mathoverflow.net/questions/443211/large-cardinals-in-zf-dc-ad) at all. In the second question mathoverflow.net/questions/4454/… you had a downvoted answer at one point that is now gone. If you have had any other interactions with these posts (perhaps downvoting them?), I cannot see them. $\endgroup$
    – David Roberts Mod
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 2:30
  • $\begingroup$ Also, how can you tell that it's one rep point per question, and not 2 points for one of them? Do you have a screen shot of the information that confirms what the rep loss is due to? $\endgroup$
    – David Roberts Mod
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 2:31
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    $\begingroup$ If you go to your reputation tab and make sure that the checkbox "show removed posts" is checked, are some recent changes of reputation displayed? $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 2:54
  • $\begingroup$ It might be just a coincidence and you lost reputation points from somebody's downvote. $\endgroup$
    – Moishe Kohan
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 3:04
  • $\begingroup$ @MoisheKohan That seems possible - but I do not see any recent downvotes on this users' reputation tab. (We'll see whether the OP replies to the comments above - maybe some reputation changes are shown only to them and not to others.) $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 3:11
  • $\begingroup$ No. The point is, I neither posted a comment nor an answer for the first question listed and for the second question I did post an answer but deleted it and got the points back for deleting it but did not get the point back I originally lost for seemingly no reason at all. $\endgroup$
    – Thomas Benjamin
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 3:12
  • $\begingroup$ For users below 10k (who cannot see deleted posts) I will add this SEDE query - where you can see that the answer mentioned above was deleted on March 13 and it had three downvotes. (The data shown here are from the last update of SEDE.) $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 3:30
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    $\begingroup$ @Thomas can you edit it into the question? Others might recognise what happened before I do. $\endgroup$
    – David Roberts Mod
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 4:39
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    $\begingroup$ @ThomasBenjamin If the most recent comment is meant as a question how to include a screenshot into a post, a brief answer is: when you edit the post, click on the corresponding button in the editor or press Ctrl+G. You can find some information on this meta: How can I add a diagram or picture to my questions? And there is this post on Meta Stack Exchange: How to upload an image to a post? (This one shows a screenshot.) $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 11:04
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    $\begingroup$ Looks like you might have downvoted the answer on that thread. $\endgroup$
    – The Amplitwist
    Commented Mar 25, 2023 at 18:35
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    $\begingroup$ @ThomasBenjamin You lose 1 reputation point for downvoting an answer, but you don't lose any points for downvoting a question. You can confirm for yourself whether your vote has been cast on that answer, since that vote button will be lit up if you have. $\endgroup$
    – The Amplitwist
    Commented Mar 25, 2023 at 19:11
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    $\begingroup$ @Thomas go and try! :-) I can't see those single-point rep changes on mathoverflow.net/users/20597/thomas-benjamin?tab=reputation, maybe you can. $\endgroup$
    – David Roberts Mod
    Commented Mar 25, 2023 at 21:11
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    $\begingroup$ @DavidRoberts Yes, this is documented in several places (and intentional). Voting is supposed to be anonymous - so $-1$ point after downvoting an answer isn't shown to others. But it still should be visible to the user when viewing their own reputation tab. For example: If I downvote an answer, is the lost reputation visible to others in my profile? and Does StackOverflow hide -1 rep from downvoter's profile for the "downvotee" so they won't be able to tell who downvoted them? (the latter has a screenshot). $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Mar 25, 2023 at 21:16
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    $\begingroup$ @ThomasBenjamin your votes are locked in after five minutes, so you won’t be able to undo your vote now… unless the post has been edited after you cast your vote, in which case you can undo or change your vote. $\endgroup$
    – The Amplitwist
    Commented Mar 25, 2023 at 22:41
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    $\begingroup$ Thank you for your help. I'll be more careful where I put my fingers on my phone screen in future.... $\endgroup$
    – Thomas Benjamin
    Commented Mar 26, 2023 at 0:03

2 Answers 2

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To summarise the conversation in the comments, it seems Thomas may have accidentally downvoted some answers while browsing on a phone (I've done the same, especially when the screen reflows because of MathJax rendering), and downvoting an answer (but not a question) subtracts 1 reputation point. Such downvotes can be undone within 5 minutes, and only after this time if the answer has been edited in the meantime.

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    $\begingroup$ It may or may not be an abuse of the system to make some edit to an answer for the sole purpose of undoing your accidental or mistaken downvote. $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Commented Mar 28, 2023 at 2:34
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    $\begingroup$ @Gerry yes, that is important to note. $\endgroup$
    – David Roberts Mod
    Commented Mar 28, 2023 at 2:35
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This is a CW answer - feel free to improve and add as needed. The question is already sufficiently answered - the intention of this answer is to collect sources where one can read more about the topics brought-up here and various related issues.

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