Why does downvoting affect your own reputation?

Question

I just downvoted an answer for the first time today, and noticed that I lost 1 reputation score. Obviously 1 "point" isn't a big deal. Whoop-dee-doo!

But on a serious note, what's the reasoning behind this?

My guess: Discourage users from unnecessarily downvoting on things, so that only, truly, those questions/answers are "bad" are downvoted upon?

serverfault.com/privileges/vote-down Down votes on answers cost, down votes on questions are free. — jscott, Commented Jul 6, 2012 at 0:46
With the ability to edit questions and answers, it is hoped that when something is slightly off course you can improve it with an edit rather than downvote it when it could easily be "saved". The other option of course is to ignore it. — Rob Moir, Commented Jul 6, 2012 at 8:02

Wesley · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-05 22:13:40Z

21

Discourages users from unnecessarily downvoting on things, so that only, truly, those questions/answers are "bad" are downvoted upon.

answered Jul 5, 2012 at 22:13

Wesley

33k23 silver badges37 bronze badges

6

And yet there is no dis-incentive to curb upvoting, even when the questions or answers are absurd or totally incorrect.
– John Gardeniers
Commented Jul 6, 2012 at 9:12
1

@JohnGardeniers Something something "you can't fix stupid" murmer murmer. Although I highly doubt ServerFault will ever have an upward spiral of voting. We're rather lethargic about that with only a handful of cough notable exceptions. =)
– Wesley
Commented Jul 6, 2012 at 16:49
12

I feel like I should make a witty comment here, but I can't think of anything...
– Ward - Trying Codidact Mod
Commented Jul 6, 2012 at 22:07
1

@Ward Upvoted!
– Wesley
Commented Jul 7, 2012 at 2:34
1

@John Gardeniers: yes, there is a dis-incentive to curb upvoting: daily reputation cap
– longneck
Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 13:49
@longneck, you, and whoever upvoted your comment, appear to have misunderstood things a bit. The daily cap only limits the rep a person can receive and is unrelated to the upvotes a person casts. Maybe you're thinking of the daily voting limit but that also is no dis-incentive against upvoting.
– John Gardeniers
Commented Jul 10, 2012 at 6:56

Add a comment |

Mark Henderson · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-05 22:09:28Z

6

Correct!

answered Jul 5, 2012 at 22:09

Mark HendersonMod

69.3k1 gold badge32 silver badges59 bronze badges

I downvoted you to test if I get -1 rep.
– Jürgen Paul
Commented Jul 18, 2012 at 21:52
@Legit - it doesn't work on Meta; there are no rep changes here except what happens on the main site
– Mark Henderson Mod
Commented Jul 18, 2012 at 22:11
@Legit, you do gain badges for some pretty whacky reasons on meta, although those badges are distinct from the ones you get on SF, unlike the rep which is common to both SF and MSF. Some things of Stack Exchange simply defy logic.
– John Gardeniers
Commented Jul 22, 2012 at 8:26

Add a comment |

2 Answers 2