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If you have second thoughts about an upvote, why is it not possible to simply remove it? Removing it now results in a downvote. It seems the algorithm is being too clever. Why not just decrement by one?

I would consider this a design flaw, if the behavior is intentional.

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  • This really should be asked on the SE meta site. I'm pretty sure it's a site-wide "feature".
    – J.R. Mod
    Commented Jan 3, 2018 at 12:39
  • Will do.................
    – TimR
    Commented Jan 3, 2018 at 12:44
  • I don't have that same experience - I can remove up-votes simply by clicking the button again. After a certain period of time you can't change your up-vote unless a post is edited - is that what you ran up against? meta.stackexchange.com/questions/30557/…
    – ColleenV Mod
    Commented Jan 3, 2018 at 12:52
  • @ColleenV No. When I tried to remove an upvote by clicking the down arrow, it changed the answer's rep from +1 to -1. It should have changed it to 0. Are you clicking the up arrow also to remove it, like a toggle?
    – TimR
    Commented Jan 3, 2018 at 14:15

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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The two buttons are a little unintuitive because they aren't up/down controls for the score, they are two independent buttons: "add up-vote" and "add down-vote". Because you are only allowed one vote per post, adding an up-vote replaces any existing down-vote (and vice versa). It doesn't "remove" it.

To remove an up-vote or down-vote, click the same button again as a toggle. You can only reverse a vote within a set period of time - after that period, you can only change your vote if the post has been edited.

See: Cancel a vote so that the tally goes back to zero and not minus

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  • I did not intuit it to be sure.
    – TimR
    Commented Jan 3, 2018 at 14:41
  • It's the positioning of the buttons and the shape - if they were side by side and used a different arrow shape, it might be a little easier to notice how they work.
    – ColleenV Mod
    Commented Jan 3, 2018 at 14:44

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