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Sorry if this has been asked before or the information is easily available, but I couldn't find it.

I accidentally upvoted an incorrect answer, so then I clicked on the downvote arrow because I thought that would reverse it. The answer then showed as having a score of -1, which I can't be sure was as a result of my action, but did I do the wrong thing? I also lost one point of reputation, so the system definitely counted it as a downvote rather than a 'vote reversal', I guess. Is there a way to reverse an upvote without it counting as a downvote?

EDIT: I think I just had the same thing happen to one of my own answers. My rep went up by 10 and then immediately down to 2 lower than it had been before. Of course it's possible that the person really meant to downvote my answer and just clicked the wrong arrow to start with, but I do think it more likely that they accidentally clicked on the upvote arrow and then wanted to reverse it.

Does anyone think it'd be worth making a feature request for some kind of delay before you can click the opposite arrow to the one you just clicked? (And perhaps a message that comes up telling you how to reverse a vote if you do try?)

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1 Answer 1

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Just click the vote arrow again. Cancel an upvote by an upvote click, and a downvote by a downvote click.

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    $\begingroup$ Oh! I had no idea! That's not very intuitive to me, though I can see how it makes sense. Unfortunately I can't do that anymore, because the answer has been removed. It's a pity I have a nonsensical preference for my reputation to be a multiple of 5. $\endgroup$
    – Tara B
    Mar 2, 2013 at 19:13
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    $\begingroup$ Oh yeah, I know how you feel about the $0\pmod 5$ issue. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Mar 2, 2013 at 19:14
  • $\begingroup$ Do the negative points for downvotes disappear if the answer is removed? That appears to have happened. $\endgroup$
    – Tara B
    Mar 2, 2013 at 19:17
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    $\begingroup$ Yes. They do.${}$ $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Mar 2, 2013 at 19:19
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    $\begingroup$ Currently 6 of the 24 top rep scores are multiples of 5, so it would appear that if people have a preference for multiples of 5, they're not doing anything about it. $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Mar 2, 2013 at 22:43
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    $\begingroup$ How does 'vote locking in' work though, Asaf? Sometimes I vote in error (for a number of possible reasons, more than anything touch misinterpretation on phone), and when trying to undo the vote later, I get the feedback "You last voted on this question x hours ago. Your vote is now locked in unless the question is edited." I can see where such feedback comes from (eg, to prevent strategic downvoting a competing answer to make it disappear), but because of the above, I had several occasions where I couldn't undo a vote I was embarassed about in hindsight. $\endgroup$
    – gnometorule
    Mar 3, 2013 at 20:54
  • $\begingroup$ @gnometorule: Five minutes; lock until the next edit. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Mar 3, 2013 at 21:28
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    $\begingroup$ @gnometorule: If you don't mind losing anonymity, you can do a dummy edit to the post yourself in order to unlock the vote. It will annoy people if you do it too often (due to the associated front page bumping and the risk of auto-CW-hammering), but once in a while to correct a mistake it's a possibility. $\endgroup$
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Mar 4, 2013 at 21:03
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    $\begingroup$ @gnometorule: Or you can actually find something worth fixing, then remove the vote some time later. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Mar 4, 2013 at 21:13
  • $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila: My vote is worth fixing, Asaf! :) Seriously, thanks for the suggestion which might come in handy one day, but I would have to feel very strongly about the need to reverse to resort to it. Good to have a tip at hand though. $\endgroup$
    – gnometorule
    Mar 4, 2013 at 21:15

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