When I saw a wrong answer and that answer got a downvote. I commented on it to suggest improvements. Then, the answerer asked me "Is that you who downvoted the answer?".

If you were me in that situation, what would you do?

There are two situations, the first is you're the one who downvoted and the second is you didn't do that. However, in both cases, I feel like I don't need to reply to that kind of question because it's unfriendly and unkind.

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    Such a question isn't Unfriendly or unkind imo. It's not needed, but it's not an insult or attack. – Erik A Oct 19 '18 at 12:43
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    I think we're not supposed to ask that question, that's not what I expected for suggesting improvements to a downvoted answer? I felt so sad about that and I felt like I shouldn't suggest any improvements to a downvoted answer ...I'm afraid... – Nguyen You Oct 19 '18 at 12:50
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    People can hold a grudge for a very long time if they suspect you, upvotes last a minute, downvotes last for months. Tends to matter when you expect to encounter him frequently. You could say "Not me, I only downvote posts that cannot be improved". – Hans Passant Oct 19 '18 at 12:54
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    @NguyễnThanhTú I know the feeling, but it's best to let it go. If someone goes on a voting spree, becomes rude, etc. we can handle that when the time comes. Usually, nastiness on SO ends with an anticlimax, like it should. – Erik A Oct 19 '18 at 13:02
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    @HansPassant "Not me, I only downvote posts that cannot be improved" wow! sounds like a mantra for me, I'll use it next time, for sure – Nguyen You Oct 19 '18 at 13:07
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    @HansPassant What if that's a lie? – user202729 Oct 19 '18 at 14:55
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    @SteveSummit It's really not about obsessing; some people will just downvote answers simply because they don't like another user. And typically questions with multiple answers, their answer which can be sufficient enough to answer the question, gets overlooked by another simply because someone doesn't like your name. Not to mention chronic downvoters who will downvote questions/answers simply because there is already a downvote on it. – Chris Oct 19 '18 at 15:01
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    Do whatever you want. If you want to answer, answer. If you want to be honest, be honest. – klutt Oct 19 '18 at 15:11
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    If you are in trolling mood (you should not be) you can reply "I have not voted, but thanks to bringing importance of votes to my attention. After careful re-reading I found that you post is missing … and is unlikely to help future visitors because … . As you reminded I'll vote according following meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/317307/when-to-downvote-upvote." (for real guidance on what to do in this case - see answers) – Alexei Levenkov Oct 19 '18 at 17:33
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    You could respond: O yes, a downvote. I almost forgot, thank you. – Henk Holterman Oct 19 '18 at 21:35
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    I'm starting to wonder for how long will downvotes remain anonymous with the new be nice trend in SE – David Arenburg Oct 21 '18 at 11:25
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    "Only downvote posts that cannot be improved"? Does anyone vote this way? Is there a good reason to vote this way? – anatolyg Oct 22 '18 at 0:39
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    @ErikvonAsmuth Regarding "Such a question isn't Unfriendly or unkind imo", I disagree completely; it is hostile. "Is that you who downvoted the answer?" is inherently and needlessly personalizing the discussion, and I see no benign interpretation for such a question. If someone truly cares about being downvoted then state "I see I have been downvoted. Feedback on why that might have happened will be gratefully received so that I can improve my answer". What is a legitimate reason for asking someone if they downvoted? I can't think of any. – skomisa Oct 22 '18 at 1:59
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    @skomisa a Q like this in a comment can go either way. I've had many a positive experience that started much like this. I'll respond "Yes, and here's why..." the next response from the OP will usually produce either a flag and walk away, or a constructive exchange of ideas. (I see no overt hostility in this comment. If there is, just flag and walk away) – chris neilsen Oct 22 '18 at 11:42
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    Unlike meta, on the main site, "comments are not for extended discussion", so not only is the question off topic, any reply would also be. So what is the point of replying if both messages should be flagged for deletion? – Tezra Oct 22 '18 at 18:37


Ignore the comment, disengage. Respond to requests to clarify your suggestion for improvements only. Do not disclose how you voted.

Additionally, flag the comment as "no longer needed", since it is pure noise.

  • 7
    Why not tell them? I would. If they start to get angry about it, then you can disengage, but you might as well tell them, unless they're already being hostile. – TheWanderer Oct 19 '18 at 12:42
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    @TheWanderer you can do that, of course, but it's not advised. People rarely react well to these things. – Magisch Oct 19 '18 at 12:43
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    I haven't ever had an issue with it. If I see a downvoted question and the OP asking why it was downvoted, I'll say something like "I didn't downvote, but people might've downvoted because..." If I was one of them, then I would just change the beginning to say why. – TheWanderer Oct 19 '18 at 12:45
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    @TheWanderer The problem here isn't that they're asking why, they're asking if. Asking why someone downvoted could be so they could give a better answer/question, but what purpose would finding out if someone downvoted give? – George Oct 19 '18 at 12:54
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    @TheWandered With honesty, best scenario; Nothing changes, Worst scenario: Your get a downvote revenge spree, or an harasser, or whatnot. I don't see a place where it helps you to do it. – Patrice Oct 19 '18 at 13:21
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    Oh, don't worry about downvote revenge sprees, those usually have no net effect eventually! – Mr Lister Oct 19 '18 at 13:30
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    @TheWanderer: The very fact that they are asking the question probably means they are already upset about the downvote. In such cases, I don't really see that entering into a discussion helps. – hat Oct 19 '18 at 15:04
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    @TheWanderer These days I try to first leave a friendly message explaining what's wrong and pointing to How to Ask, or whatever. Then I come back a bit later and if the OP has been active but not addressed the issue(s) then I leave the down vote. That way I've already explained why they got the down vote, and if they ask I know there's nothing to be gained by replying. – AndyJ Oct 19 '18 at 15:29
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    @MrLister I've had OPs that revenge down voted in a way that bypassed the automated systems, so I had to get a mod involved. :/ – AndyJ Oct 19 '18 at 15:37
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    @AndyJ You mean, a very very slow downvote spree? But how did you know it was the same person each time? – Mr Lister Oct 19 '18 at 15:39
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    @TheWanderer see the voting history on my questions for evidence of what happens when you routinely leave comments on posts you've downvoted. They don't even have to be in response to a "why the downvote" comment. – Kevin B Oct 19 '18 at 21:31
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    @DonHatch Comments are already ephemeral by nature, so no one should feel them being removed as an act of hostility. Plus, if someone wanted to provide feedback along with the downvote, very likely would they have had before that comment. Future visitors of the site are not interested in these requests either. – E_net4 Oct 20 '18 at 22:40
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    @Nils No. The risk of someone being more aggressive is much higher than someone being reasonable. That comes from pure experience, and isn't theoretical. – fbueckert Oct 21 '18 at 1:49
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    @Nils In the context of a question on stack overflow, the thing we're optimising for is quality of questions. It's perfectly possible to leave actionable suggestions for improvement (like I recommend doing in my answer) without disclosing your voting habits. And the "no longer needed" flag is just housekeeping - that comment would be noise for future visitors who come here for a solution, not meta commentary about the voting on a question. – Magisch Oct 21 '18 at 5:38
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    Basically... Reply at your own risk. I typically don't reply to them directly, but often they'll be posted as I'm typing up a comment so indirectly i do respond to them. Often people disagree with my reasoning, and that's fine. I do routinely get downvoted seemingly randomly, which sucks, but where I am with reputation that doesn't matter to me so I keep doing what I think is best regardless of the downvotes I receive in response. Sometimes though... i will respond if it's a user i've had previous interactions with who routinely leaves snarky why the downvote comments to return the favor. :) – Kevin B Oct 22 '18 at 16:33

There's a reason why votes are anonymous. You have no obligation to answer.

In all cases, (even if you downvoted, may I add), if you want to help the poster and you may know a possible reason why it got a downvote, you could answer something like this:

I didn't downvote but your solution doesn't work because ...

although I would reserve that comment to posts that I didn't vote upon and when OP doesn't ping me aggressively like this (never happened to me BTW). But sometimes it allows to cool down and avoids revenge downvotes.

A less "please-forgive-me-for-what-I-didn't-do" way could be (thanks Tiny Giant)

My guess is that you got downvoted because ...

Another alternative would be to downvote another time, so it shows OP that several people find this post not useful. Downvoting for that sole purpose isn't very fair, that said. Downvote if not useful, regardless of comments.

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    "Downvoting for that sole purpose isn't very fair" - But if the solution really didn't work then it fully deserves to be downvoted. One might go as far as to say it's your duty to downvote. – A Boschman Oct 19 '18 at 14:36
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    not saying otherwise. I mean if you don't know why someone else downvoted, don't pile it on – Jean-François Fabre Oct 19 '18 at 14:37
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    FWIW, I rather dislike “I didn’t downvote but…” comments. Just leave that aside entirely. I don’t understand why anyone needs to justify themselves regarding their votes. – deceze Oct 20 '18 at 7:07
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    They start a sentence with "not my downvote but" because they feel it protects them from abuse. Whether it does protect them is currently unproven AFAIK, but since we know downvotes are often taken personally, this strategy has some reasoning. – E_net4 Oct 20 '18 at 8:24
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    @NguyễnThanhTú - correct - everyone has indeed now told you, simply IGNORE such a rude question. – Fattie Oct 20 '18 at 9:43
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    depending on your mood, ignore, or make OP feel bad by explaining that they chose the wrong target. Never happened to me BTW. – Jean-François Fabre Oct 20 '18 at 9:44
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    "I didn't downvote" sounds awful. It's both noise (a bit less noise than "did you downvote?", but still noise) and carries the wrong message (that downvoting is a hostile act). – anatolyg Oct 22 '18 at 0:47
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    I find that slightly aggressive. But at least my answer doesn't suggest to brush it off all the time. Someone has to start being nice at some point. – Jean-François Fabre Oct 22 '18 at 8:38
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    @deceze: it's extremely obvious why we sometimes have to preface constructive criticism with “I didn’t downvote but…”. a) Sometimes the OP is being unfairly downvoted/VtC/harassed with comments/piling-on (this happens quite often; and sometimes it happens for several questions in a row, without a reasonable reason). b) Possibly combined with, or separate to, a) sometimes the OP (especially a new user, but quite often an existing user too) is too defensive about criticism, and not amenable to hearing it, until the commenter establishes both their credibility and their impartiality. – smci Oct 22 '18 at 8:44
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    @smci Of course I understand why people do it, I just think it's pretty silly. It shouldn't matter. I always phrase comments in a way that neither suggests nor disallows the possibility that I downvoted. I don't want to talk about that in comments. I want to talk about what can be done to undo the downvotes, period. – deceze Oct 22 '18 at 8:55
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    @deceze: yeah, it's always nice to explain why the answer is bad. But a lot of users will interpret "downvote+negative feedback comment" as originating from the same user. Personally I usually prefer to warn the user before downvoting. Sometimes it works and they update/delete their answer without getting a sole downvote – Jean-François Fabre Oct 22 '18 at 9:06
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    This is what I do when I see a post that I think can be improved but it has a "Downvoter: please explain your downvote" comment. The comment itself is a trap for all future commenters, because if no one was explaining anything before the comment then surely all comments thereafter must be from downvoters. Even if I did downvote the post I will prepend "I haven't voted on this yet, but ..." with my suggestion for improvement / or my "guess" as to why the post may have been downvoted by other users. – user4639281 Oct 22 '18 at 16:28
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    I suppose the same could be achieved with "I refuse to disclose my confidential voting habits and will neither confirm nor deny that I have or have not voted on any specific post. With that said, I think your post could be improved if you..." – user4639281 Oct 22 '18 at 16:31
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    @TinyGiant So, just skip the preamble and start with “I think your post could be improved if you…”? If the OP still feels hostility after such a neutral comment… well, you can’t fix people. 🤷🏻‍♂️ – deceze Oct 22 '18 at 22:53
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    @deceze did you miss the "The comment itself is a trap for all future commenters, because if no one was explaining anything before the comment then surely all comments thereafter must be from downvoters." in my first comment? – user4639281 Oct 23 '18 at 6:54

Regardless of whether you downvoted, or whether you feel like commenting, do flag the comment for removal. No longer needed flags are usually honoured in these cases, as well as on plain undirected "why the downvote?". If the comment is deemed as more provocative towards the user(s) who downvoted ("some trolls downvoted my question for no reason", "whoever downvoted should be banned from this site"), you are in your right to escalate to the Unfriendly or Unkind flag. Yes, they might be upset and in need of venting for what may be felt as an unfair demotion of their content, but such an exhibition of impatience is not only noise to visitors, but also makes potential contributors to that question feel uncomfortable, and will drive them away.

There is indeed a chance that the poster of the subsequent comment becomes a target, and what happens next is not always predictable. Best case: everyone acts in good faith, the OP thanks the user and improves the question/answer with that in mind (if that is possible at all; downvotes are also frequent on unsalvageable questions). Bad case: the OP starts an endless argument with you on how the question is appropriate, leading to more noise and frustration. Worst case: you receive an e-mail accusing you of bashing people that are still learning and of not being a real programmer, even though your comment was constructive.

I have experienced each of these outcomes so far, and yet the consequences of facing a negative reaction far outweigh the ones from good reactions. The life of a Stack Overflow curator that leaves replies to "why the downvote?" will generally have to show some resilience, otherwise they might just "break" after the eventual Nth bad case.

In conclusion, replying to such comments is a bit like playing the roulette, where the stakes are based on the OP's question/answer and mood. It's such a strange game. The only move that always leaves you unharmed is not to play. Whether you're willing to continue placing bets is up to you. No one should feel obligated to comment, after all.

  • 1
    Russian roulette, then – Jean-François Fabre Oct 19 '18 at 15:27
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    "Bad case: the OP starts an endless argument with you on how the question is appropriate, leading to more noise and frustration." that's what I have experienced – Nguyen You Oct 20 '18 at 2:13
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    'Would you like to play a game? Global thermonuclear war, or explaining downvotes on SO?' – Martin James Oct 21 '18 at 1:06
  • @MartinJames Giant Meteor 2020 – Nathan Tuggy Oct 23 '18 at 8:53

No, you shouldn't. Let's nail it down, imagine yourself asking:

did you downvote my answer?

it's pretty obvious you are not focused on the topic and you are angry for reputation. Even though you discover who was the guy that downvoted your answer what you achieve? what would change?

Don't answer. It would be like answering in real life to one asking if you were looking at his girlfriend.

I want to bring to you my personal experience: I always get a lot of downvotes but I don't care because many times people explain to me where I am wrong and I find myself upvoting comments or answers that goes against what I said because if you ask or reply with the right attitude you will accept downvotes and replies that are legit (even though I see too much strictness sometimes...).


Why shouldn't you say if you down-voted them?

  • They may take it personally, and may down-vote your answers because you down-voted theirs. The purpose of down-voting is to get the right answers to people quicker, not to battle against other users. Some people will take it personally and will retaliate.

  • A feeling of anonymity is important in getting honest answers from people. If people knew who was voting, then people would be less inclined to answer honestly because of fear of repercussions to themselves.

If they ask you a question like this again, just say the voting is meant to be anonymous for some good reasons. (and you could restate the reasons above).

At least that is what I would do.

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    Stack overflow automatically disqualifies votes when one user upvotes/downvotes one person's questions/answers a lot more than any others. – Pika the Wizard of the Whales Oct 22 '18 at 13:46
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    This is good to know. They probably thought of this problem years ago. – kiwicomb123 Oct 22 '18 at 13:48
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    @SirGoPythonJavaCppRubythe3rd The point is, you shouldn't have to suffer those downvotes in the first place. Which is why explaining a downvote, yours or others, does nothing but paint a target on your back. All it does is add aggravation to your day. Invariably, the requester isn't actually looking to improve; they're just looking for something to attack, either your argument, or you yourself. – fbueckert Oct 22 '18 at 19:56
  • If they do that, it would be worth contacting a moderator. – Pika the Wizard of the Whales Oct 22 '18 at 20:00
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    @SirGoPythonJavaCppRubythe3rd You're missing the point. It's not worth the trouble to risk it. Just downvote and move on. If someone asks for justification, ignore it. No problems with painting a target on your back, or having to defend your position. – fbueckert Oct 22 '18 at 20:45
  • @fbueckert I understand the point you are making, but it is opinion-based whether it is worth the risk. If you do reveal that you were the downvoter, and they purposely downvote your posts, then you can show a moderator that you revealed to them you were the downvoter and that they were downvoting your posts and prove your case easily. – Pika the Wizard of the Whales Oct 22 '18 at 20:55
  • @SirGoPythonJavaCppRubythe3rd It's still additional effort that shouldn't be required. You're dismissing the concern as if it's no trouble at all to just let yourself be targetted, which is missing the entire issue. – fbueckert Oct 22 '18 at 20:56
  • @fbueckert I'm not dismissing the issue, I am just saying that it is not a very big concern. – Pika the Wizard of the Whales Oct 22 '18 at 20:58
  • @SirGoPythonJavaCppRubythe3rd Which is dismissing it. I disagree entirely. – fbueckert Oct 22 '18 at 20:58
  • @fbueckert That's not dismissing it, that's just pointing out that it should not be a high priority, and the comment I posted before that showed how to deal with it if it ever occurs. – Pika the Wizard of the Whales Oct 22 '18 at 21:00

I think that there is no general rule to that as it heavily depends on context. Per se, you don't know why the question was asked.

Suppose the downvoted answer got a lot of critical comments. Maybe the answer's author just wants to know which comment he should address or consider first or foremost.

Maybe he/she feels the downvote was unjustified.

I personally would answer truthfully, and maybe add some reasoning for the downvote, if I did not already do that adequately in the comments. But I would also rethink whether the downvote truly was justified.

Only if the other person tries to go into an argument rather than a sensible discussion about the answer's topic, I would shut the conversation down.

  • If the answer already has comments, why should someone need to ask who did the downvoting? Why would that influence the order at which those issues are addressed? – E_net4 Oct 21 '18 at 10:35
  • Well, a downvote is a stronger statement in terms of evaluation. So, if there were multiple critical comments to an answer, it appears to me that it adds information to know which specific critique led to a downvote. – GermanNerd Oct 21 '18 at 11:06

There are 2 ways to solve this problem

- 100 % Compliance

  • Flag the comment as It's unfriendly or unkind. This comment is rude or condescending.

Bit Lenient but still compliant

  • Reply with just "Yes" and explain the reason
  • If he asks for Further questions , Flag the comment as It's no longer needed. This comment is outdated, conversational or not relevant to this post.

General thumb rule. Make sure you dont violate the code of conduct at the same time, you have 100% person right to report any incident to moderators. They can decide and act on it.

As mentioned by some people above. Single person grudge will not affect you in this forum. He may purposely downvote your answers even if its good. But he cannot stop you from getting up votes.

Moreover, it practically impossible for some one to follow you in Stack Overflow, as there is not follow user option.

  • 5
    I wouldn't say the comment should be flagged as unfriendly or unkind. No longer needed will be sufficient. – Codeer Oct 22 '18 at 9:39

Yes, I think the best thing is to reply in a helpful manner in two specific situations:

  1. The person asking is clearly new to Stack Overflow


  2. He/she wants to know why they were downvoted and NOT who downvoted them.

I usually reply with the appropriate link from i-downvoted-because and the Stack Overflow guide on how to ask a good question: How to ask a good question

For example, if the OP made no attempt to solve the problem first, I would put that in my reply and include this link: http://idownvotedbecau.se/noattempt/

I think not letting someone know why they were downvoted only creates resentment towards the community.

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    And letting someone know who downvoted them causes resentment against them, instead. There are going to be vanishingly few users who will accept feedback, and will instead take downvotes personally. – fbueckert Oct 19 '18 at 15:29
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    I agree that trying to help is best. But experience has taught me that telling them that you down voted isn't often helpful. These days I try to explain what's wrong with the question in a friendly way, then down vote later if they did nothing about it. That way I try to help, and I stay anonymous. – AndyJ Oct 19 '18 at 15:40
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    "not letting someone know why they were downvoted" isn't the same as "not letting someone know that you downvoted them", which I agree, is a very bad move. – Jean-François Fabre Oct 19 '18 at 15:42
  • I think not letting someone know why they were downvoted... But the OP doesn't know why the down vote happened; they weren't the ones to down vote. They only suggested improvements. – BSMP Oct 19 '18 at 16:40
  • I would consider that valid suggestion for questions/answers by 100K+ users as you generally expect positive engagement in such cases (also such users would not ask "if you downvoted"). For everyone else it is unlikely to improve anything. – Alexei Levenkov Oct 19 '18 at 17:21
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    Side note: before leaving links to idownvoteddbecau.se make sure to read corresponding meta discussions (TL;DR: it considered noise/not welcome in many cases) – Alexei Levenkov Oct 19 '18 at 17:22
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    I find resentment to be a bit like fire. If given plenty of fuel it can spread. In that vein, comments responding to why someone took an action that they disagreed with as simply supplying plenty more fuel. No one's looking for clarity in those discussions. They're looking for a punching bag. Don't become one. – Makoto Oct 19 '18 at 20:14
  • @fbueckert It is not the person being downvoted, it is the answer which has the downvote. – Andrew Morton Oct 19 '18 at 23:32
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    @GunterKönigsmann We may well be here to answer questions that have value to the site without requiring substantial improvements. Let's leave it at that. – E_net4 Oct 20 '18 at 9:52
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    @Andrew Morton: fbueckert's point is that the people whose answers get downvoted take the downvotes personally. – BoltClock Oct 20 '18 at 16:46
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    @DonHatch: There's a big difference asking "Why did I get downvoted" or asking "Who did downvote me". The first one (might) ask for help improving the question. The second one looks for someone to blame. – BDL Oct 21 '18 at 6:03
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    Ok...own up, who downvoted me !! :) – Nick Oct 22 '18 at 7:45
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    lol @robinCTS - good point, thanks for explaining. ill edit the answer ! – Nick Oct 22 '18 at 12:55
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    I think this should be the accepted answer. – Pika the Wizard of the Whales Oct 22 '18 at 16:31
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    @SirGoPythonJavaCppRubythe3rd No. – E_net4 Oct 23 '18 at 7:00

Yes you should, this is a prime opportunity to explain why you downvoted and how the question could be better.

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    This is a prime opportunity to walk away. Note that the OP did not even downvote in this case, and had already provided some feedback. – E_net4 Oct 19 '18 at 23:34
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    And be down voted or argued with for your trouble. No, thank you. – fbueckert Oct 19 '18 at 23:53
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    What @fbueckert said. While this may be true in principle, in practice more often than not the question is asked in bad faith and the asker is simply looking for a reason to scapegoat the voter or otherwise retaliate, should the explanation be unsatisfactory. – BoltClock Oct 20 '18 at 16:42
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    @BoltClock Generally every explanation is unsatisfactory. The number of times that question is asked in good faith is vanishingly small. Most often, it's just there to give the commentor a target. – fbueckert Oct 20 '18 at 17:01

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