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I've down-voted an answer and explained myself in comments. Other people in comments added some valuable information and I've realized that I was actually wrong and too hasty. I've tried to up-vote the question and predictably got this:

You last voted on this answer 2 hours ago. Your vote is now locked in unless this answer is edited.

While I totally understand why this policy was introduced in first place, it doesn't serve the purpose well in cases like the one mentioned above. Can we maybe treat some specific amount of comments added as an excuse for re-up-voting (or, vice versa, re-down-voting)?

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    If the comments are really valuable, they should be edited into the post. This way, the vote can be changed again. Commented Nov 25, 2018 at 22:41
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    "Somebody is wrong on the Internet" has always been a very powerful motivator, it certainly is at SO. Those people that commented surely already compensated for the downvote. So nothing to worry about. Commented Nov 25, 2018 at 22:44
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    Yes I support changing votes up to 6 months later. I don't understand why this policy was introduced in the first place except to speed up the site.
    – Chloe
    Commented Nov 26, 2018 at 0:19
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    @Chloe It's to prevent strategic voting. People used to down vote other answers so that their answer would move closer to the top (in hopes of increasing their chance of getting the accept mark). Once they got the accept or other up votes, they'd remove their down votes to remove the hit to their reputation since down votes on answers cost 2 rep.
    – BSMP
    Commented Nov 26, 2018 at 5:49
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    @BSMP Actually, a downvote on an answer costs the downvoter 1 rep and applies a -2 to the rep of the answer's author. You probably know this and just misspoke, or had a typo.
    – Makyen Mod
    Commented Nov 26, 2018 at 6:41
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    Perhaps you could clarify the question/answer yourself, providing text around your original confusion, thereby unlocking your vote AND clarifying the question/answer...? Commented Nov 26, 2018 at 20:55
  • @BSMP OK but that doesn't explain why upvotes can't be changed.
    – Chloe
    Commented Nov 26, 2018 at 21:08
  • @Chloe why would you need to change upvotes? It's not likely that the answer would go worse by time. It probably helped you at the time when you gave it an upvote–if it didn't nor doesn't seem useful to anyone, you should have removed your upvote immediately. You won't remember 6 months later if it was a mistake or not. Commented Nov 27, 2018 at 23:12
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    @AleksiSjöberg it could go bad, though. APIs change, or thorough testing / running under load / specific architectures could reveal flaws long after the fact; there haven't been many times were I wished I could reverse or retract an answer vote but it did happen a few times. Over the years I've learned to be kind of careful with answer votes.
    – jrh
    Commented Nov 28, 2018 at 15:20
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    @jrh in such case I would say it's better to edit the answer. If nothing else, add a disclaimer to the top that it's outdated and dangerous to use, in case it is. But I now realize that such situations exist, thanks. :) Commented Nov 28, 2018 at 17:20
  • @AleksiSjöberg Because it might be a complex answer that seems good on the surface, but causes difficulty elsewhere. Ex: It might work in development, but not production.
    – Chloe
    Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 1:31
  • @Chloe I imagine it's just not worth the programming effort to treat them differently. It's easier to just lock voting rather than check what you're trying to do with your vote.
    – BSMP
    Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 7:23

1 Answer 1

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If you voted because you misunderstood something, that means someone else could likely misunderstand for the same reason. Comments that help explain an answer shouldn't be comments, but be incorporated into the answer.

So that means if you find a comment particularly useful in understanding the answer, you can feel free to edit the content of the comment into the answer (in the most seamless way possible). And once you edit, your vote will be unlocked.

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    Sometimes there's nothing ambiguous in the answer, and one is just wrong in their assessment of the answer.
    – Bergi
    Commented Nov 26, 2018 at 8:31
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    @Bergi The point stands, though - if the comment helped you realised that you were wrong, then the comment should be made part of the answer in case it helps anyone else have that same realisation. If it wasn't a comment, and you just realised what it meant some time later, then the answer clearly was ambiguous, in which case the downvote should stand because it indicates an issue with the answer. Commented Nov 26, 2018 at 9:59
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    @Bergi I'm sure there are exceptions, but in general, if I misread the question, I'm probably not going to be the only person that does it. So if there is a comment that helps clear up the part that I misread, it is potentially valuable Commented Nov 26, 2018 at 15:15
  • Ridiculous policy. We should be able to change our mind because we were being stupid, and change our vote accordingly.
    – eric
    Commented Sep 11, 2021 at 0:54

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