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I'll let it be known that I spend a lot of time on Reddit so I find it odd that people can't upvote their own questions. On Reddit, each link or discussion starts out with 1 point (that given to it by its creator). Is there a fear that people will try to create 100s of pointless questions so that they can get easy rep? I'd think that the downvoting by the community would make that pointless.
Just my two cents (for what its worth),

Russell C

P.S. Humorously, this seems to be a 0/1 starting index argument.

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    You have to remember this isn't reddit. I spend time there too - Reddit's a place for following links, talking about nonsense and getting in a lather about this week's liberal cause du jour. ServerFault is a place for asking and answering questions. Whole different site philosophies, obviously. So what would be the point of upvoting your own answer on SF? Surely if you don't think its a good answer then you simply wouldn't post it? Or you'd just delete it if you realised afterwards that it was flawed?
    – Rob Moir
    Commented Feb 17, 2011 at 22:51
  • fair point, fair point.
    – Russell C
    Commented Feb 17, 2011 at 22:54
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    as Robert said, everything you post has an implicit upvote by you -- there's no value in making it explicit
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Feb 18, 2011 at 2:27

2 Answers 2

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The base assumption here is that all questions start out as neutral, and are voted on by the community based on the quality of the question. Rep is awarded asymmetrically, though. +10 for an upvote, -2 for a downvote. Because of this, the ability to upvote your own questions and answers is a way to game the system.

We do permit accepting your own answers to questions, though there is no rep-gain by doing so. Others will upvote the accepted answer based on quality like always.

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  • I suppose this makes sense, even though I would like to see at least a token 1 or 2 rep for just asking a question. I suppose this is also a different way of looking at the upvotes as I sort of see them as "the number of people who like/appreciate this question" and I sure as heck like my own questions! (As I'm sure most other people likewise do.)
    – Russell C
    Commented Feb 17, 2011 at 22:52
  • You'd be less keen on awarding rep just for asking questions if you looked at the amount of drivel questions we already get... I weep at the idea of how much crap we'd have to wade through if people thought they could get rep just by asking questions.
    – womble Mod
    Commented Aug 13, 2011 at 2:21
  • @RussellC, If I recall correctly, you do get 2 rep for accepting an answer to a question, but not if it's your own answer.
    – user11604
    Commented Feb 2, 2012 at 14:54
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Would you also downvote your own questions?

Quite frankly I find the very idea absurd. I'm quite sure none of us are really in a position to judge fairly whether our own questions are crap or gold. Let's face it, if we were so highly skilled that we really could judge our own questions there should be no need to even post them.

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