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Forgive me - I am sure this is addressed elsewhere on this meta site, but I am not not familiar enough with Meta.MSE to know.

I noticed that four of my questions were downvoted in a very short time frame today. This is extremely unusual for me, as I tend to get, at most, a couple downvotes a week. Moreover, my posts that were downvoted weren't even posted today, which causes me to think that someone went into my account and accessed my recent activity.

While I am somewhat annoyed about the downvotes, I can absorb the reputation loss if needed. What I am curious about is what users are supposed to do when they feel they are being serially downvoted. Some things I have seen in the past include

  1. Writing a post on Meta.MSE
  2. Using the "Contact Us" feature at the bottom of every page

What is the recommended course of action for a non-moderator to determine if they have been downvoted serially?

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  • $\begingroup$ Some basic info or serial voting is summarized here. You can find link to this FAQ post on meta.SE: What is serial voting and how does it affect me? In connection with this question, the section "What if I think I'm the victim of voting fraud?" is worth reading. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Feb 2, 2017 at 6:38
  • $\begingroup$ From the appropriate tab on your profile page I count five downvotes on distinct answers in a span of 49 seconds. This is a clear sign of targeted voting. I am not sure that the reversal script catches this. Will keep an eye on it and/or discuss with other diamond mods whether this is actionable. $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen
    Feb 2, 2017 at 8:27
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    $\begingroup$ FWIW I'm fairly sure I know who the downvoter is. The suspect has served time in the sin bin for targeted voting before. The case will be investigated/discussed. $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen
    Feb 2, 2017 at 8:31
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    $\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen really? I can't for the life of me understand why someone would do that. Going on a single spree against someone I can maybe get, even if it doesn't really accomplish as much as a single comment IMO... but doing so multiple times 0_0 regardless, I appreciate your help greatly Jyrki! $\endgroup$
    – Brevan Ellefsen
    Feb 2, 2017 at 15:29

1 Answer 1

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If the votes come together, at the same time (more or less) on different posts, they are probably serial. If they are part of your breakfast, then these are cereal downvotes.

In any case, there is a script being run every day (around 3am UTC) which finds and reverses serial voting (that were identified). So it's usually a good idea to wait a day, if nothing happened, then you can flag one of the "affected posts" for a moderator attention and request that they look into that using a free form flag.

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  • $\begingroup$ Sounds great. I'll wait just a bit before accepting to see if anyone else has any input, but this answers my question perfectly. Thanks Asaf! $\endgroup$
    – Brevan Ellefsen
    Feb 2, 2017 at 6:29
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    $\begingroup$ Quick question; I believe that I have picked up my first cereal downvoter, but want to wait a while longer to see if a pattern persists. If it does persist, should I just flag the relevant answers? $\endgroup$
    – copper.hat
    Feb 5, 2017 at 0:03
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    $\begingroup$ @copper.hat: One is enough, you can provide a few links to other posts if needed. The moderators can see your reputation change (as do everyone else) and see what and when you got downvoted. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Feb 5, 2017 at 4:52
  • $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila: Much appreciated! $\endgroup$
    – copper.hat
    Feb 5, 2017 at 4:54
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry to bother you again; in what sort of time frame do the moderators look at these things? My personal downvoter has been at it for a week now and, while I don't care about the -2s, I do find their persistence a little niggling. $\endgroup$
    – copper.hat
    Feb 6, 2017 at 6:27
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    $\begingroup$ @copper.hat: You'd have to ask them. But the more downvotes, the easier it is to establish a pattern and find the user. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Feb 6, 2017 at 6:29
  • $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila: Thanks again! $\endgroup$
    – copper.hat
    Feb 6, 2017 at 6:30

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