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I want to know if there is any way to trace the down voter?

Today, I got serial downvotes on 3 of my previous questions. I suspect that the person who down voted them did so out of contempt, so I want to know if I can trace or report it to someone?

Thanks

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    $\begingroup$ If you're suspecting someone in particular, you might be able to delete this question temporarily since the answer doesn't have an upvote. Then check if the suspect get +2 in reputation. $\endgroup$ – Gabriel Romon May 25 '18 at 10:46
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    $\begingroup$ @GabrielRomon, no I am not suspecting someone in particular. And I got the down votes on my questions so I don't think so that the down voter has lose (-2) his/her reputation. $\endgroup$ – User May 25 '18 at 10:49
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    $\begingroup$ If there is a cereal downvoter targeting you, usually their votes are caught by the daily vote invalidation script. To see whether that happens wait for 24 hours. If nothing happens, you can flag one of the affected posts for moderator attention. We can then investigate. We usually don't bother for a few downvotes, because then there is nothing actionable. If the problem persists, we can ID the downvoter. If we think the votes were cast in bad faith, we can ask the CMs for invalidation of those votes (per-site mods cannot invalidate votes, don't ask). The CMs will then investigate also. $\endgroup$ – Jyrki Lahtonen May 25 '18 at 10:59
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    $\begingroup$ I don't want to disclose my algorithm for investigating this type of complaints, but my findings (by the data available now) are: 1) some of the downvotes to you are suspicious, 2) I don't see anything actionable, yet. $\endgroup$ – Jyrki Lahtonen May 25 '18 at 11:04
  • $\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen, if you don't mind can I ask why this is not actionable? $\endgroup$ – User May 25 '18 at 11:07
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    $\begingroup$ I would rather not. At least not publicly. I don't want to disclose the details of my personal definition for "actionable". Some abuser could use those details to fine-tune their similar future downvoting campaigns. $\endgroup$ – Jyrki Lahtonen May 25 '18 at 11:42
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    $\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen Why would anyone downvote cereal? yummy and healthy! $\endgroup$ – AccidentalFourierTransform May 25 '18 at 13:55
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I recommend waiting a full day, to see if the system software mechanisms for rolling back serial downvotes will catch anything.

There can be borderline cases, and I'm not terribly familiar with outcomes for downvoted Questions, but it's best to give the system a chance to work before asking for Moderator or Community intervention.

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  • $\begingroup$ Knowing nowhere to ask, I post my question here as a comment . I don't intend to complain about any downvote or trace any downvoter, but I find it strange that a recent answer of mine, which earned about 100 points + a bounty of 200 points, continues to be downvoted by a certain number of people (always the same ?). I'm always ready to discuss on a scientific level, but I find it unethical to hide behind anonymity to avoid a public debate. When I disagree with an answer, I personally take care to give rational arguments which can be examined by any reader. What can be done ? Nothing I guess ? $\endgroup$ – nguyen quang do May 30 '18 at 12:29
  • $\begingroup$ @nguyenquangdo: It can be frustrating to get anonymous downvotes without explanation, but upvotes are equally typically anonymous and without explanation. In looking at your recent posts, I found this one which had (when I looked) four upvotes and three downvotes. If I had to guess, some of these downvotes were because you used an Answer to make an extended Comment on another (Community Wiki) Answer. You also posted another Answer which got the 200 pt. bounty on the same Question, and this also has a mix of up- and down-votes. $\endgroup$ – hardmath May 30 '18 at 14:35
  • $\begingroup$ To make things pointedly precise, the first part of my answer which finally got the bounty was published first, and immediately obtained upvotes, but also a downvote, probably (?) by the person whom you allude to, and who gave his own answer. I replied (perhaps I should not have, but I needed the space) to this answer strictly on the math. level, and again was upvoted... but also downvoted , probably (?) by the same person , without any explanation, in contrast with my own approach. Shortly after that, a bounty was proposed, and all my upvotes were moved to my second answer, the first one ... $\endgroup$ – nguyen quang do May 30 '18 at 16:22
  • $\begingroup$ ... was left with 0, probably in order to let it compete for the bounty. Later on I added 2 complements. After the attribution of the bounty, I was again downvoted ! I don't object if these downvotes were only for "administrative" reasons. I don't even object if they were for scientific reasons, but in that case, these should at least be exposed (as I did in the first place - and without downvoting anybody). $\endgroup$ – nguyen quang do May 30 '18 at 16:35
  • $\begingroup$ @nguyenquangdo: I'd be reluctant to jump to a conclusion that someone downvoted your Answer because they subsequently posted a Community Wiki Answer on the same Question. It doesn't seem like a compelling motive, since a Community Wiki Answer does not gain a user reputation points from upvotes. I make a lot of Comments on the main Math.SE site, and perhaps folks deduce from those that I'm downvoting their posts. But this is not a valid deduction. Try to take comfort from the excess of upvotes you got, and from the fact that one upvote on an Answer is +10 while one downvote is only -2. $\endgroup$ – hardmath Jun 4 '18 at 22:20
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you, but after "reputation points" are a trifle affair. My frustration was perhaps due to my misunderstanding of the system of downvotes. Every member of the Community Wiki can downvote an answer, right ? "Administrative" votes (as you explained) being put apart, how can any serious member downvote a mathematical argument without explanation, and especially after it has been recognized as valid (e.g. by winning a bounty)? I mean, the cornerstone of our science is that A and non-A cannot be true at the same time. In case of contestation, ethics demand a public discussion, I think. $\endgroup$ – nguyen quang do Jun 5 '18 at 6:45
  • $\begingroup$ @nguyenquangdo: See this explanation of what Community Wiki posts are, and note in particular that such posts do not earn reputation. You seem to misunderstand about the privileges of upvoting and downvoting, so some study of those privileges is appropriate. $\endgroup$ – hardmath Jun 6 '18 at 0:17

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