I'm fairly new to (Math) Stack Exchange, so I am hoping the community could shed some light on this: I answered a user's question, in a comprehensive manner, and the user up-voted and accepted my answer, even commenting "Thank you so much", so I received reputation for both of these actions. After a day or two, I check, and my answer has been "unaccepted", and thus revoking some of the reputation I received. I could understand if someone posted a different, more detailed answer, but no other answers have even been submitted. The question the user posted hasn't changed either. So I can't see why my answer was unaccepted. Is it possible for other users to unaccept my answer? Shouldn't some reasoning be provided when a user unaccepts an answer in this situation?
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3$\begingroup$ It has happened to me too, although not recently. I am still puzzled by that. $\endgroup$– José Carlos SantosCommented Jun 19, 2020 at 17:43
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1$\begingroup$ I am getting a spate of unaccepted answers (some over 5 years old) and downvotes. The reputation count is not an issue for me, but without some hint of what is happening it is rather discouraging. $\endgroup$– copper.hatCommented Jun 19, 2020 at 18:18
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$\begingroup$ That is my main reason too: I don't mind downvotes or unaccepted answers as long as reasonable explanation is provided. Hopefully this doesn't prove to be a trend for me. $\endgroup$– ccrothCommented Jun 19, 2020 at 18:20
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3$\begingroup$ I might have exaggerated just a tiny bit when I wrote spate. Unexplained downvoting irks me into hyperbole. $\endgroup$– copper.hatCommented Jun 19, 2020 at 18:32
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3$\begingroup$ You are now part of a huge club of users who have had answers unaccepted for any number of reasons. I'm part of that club as are three other users commenting on or answering your question. That's part of what life on math.se is like. It's nothing personal, and no, there are no laws against a user changing their minds about an accept. No posse's to be formed. It stings, but when you realize that votes and accepts are somewhat arbitrary (not always entirely), then you move on, continue to do your best, and it usually works out, in the long fun. Admittedly, the sting is more painful when new $\endgroup$– amWhyCommented Jun 19, 2020 at 19:49
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$\begingroup$ For this particular case, note that the OP doesn't have enough rep to upvote yet, so the upvote is not by them and they can only accept instead. The "thanks" comment might be ambiguous, it could mean "thanks for the effort, but it doesn't help me", which might indicate the unacceptance. $\endgroup$– Andrew T.Commented Jun 20, 2020 at 14:24
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1 Answer
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It might be that upon further reflection they realised that the answer is not as clear to them. That happens on occasion, and it happened to me several times in the past (which is quite annoying, to be honest, especially when the answer is accepted very quickly).
There's no need to alarm, and you could leave a friendly comment under the question (or under your answer, if the OP had commented there) asking if something is unclear.
If, however, this is somehow a pattern, that a certain user unaccepts a lot of your answers, do let us know by flagging one of the answers with the free-form flag.
answered Jun 19, 2020 at 16:11
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$\begingroup$ I see, thanks for the information! $\endgroup$– ccrothCommented Jun 19, 2020 at 16:30