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Post History
As a "new user", I'm able to downvote, but not comment. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I should be able to explain the problem with a post before I'm able to affect another user's score, no?...
#6: Post edited
by
Monica Cellio
·
2026-08-07T19:29:22Z (about 1 month ago)
#5: Post edited
by
wjandrea
·
2026-07-27T23:27:16Z (about 2 months ago)
confirmed details about SE
As a "new user", I'm able to downvote, but not comment. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I should be able to explain the problem with a post before I'm able to affect another user's score, no? I believe that's how it works on Stack Exchange (which I use a lot).- I'm asking because I just downvoted an answer, and when I went to comment to explain why, the comment button was greyed out.
- Now, when I look at the [Participate Ability](https://meta.codidact.com/abilities/everyone) (new user level) and the [Participate Everywhere Ability](https://meta.codidact.com/abilities/unrestricted) (above new user), they don't match what I'm seeing. Participate says "vote on answers **to own posts**" while Participate Everywhere says "vote and comment **anywhere**". So is this a bug that I'm able to downvote? Or is this a feature like [Stack Exchange's thing where your votes get recorded while you're new but not applied](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/339184/what-does-it-mean-when-it-says-my-vote-is-recorded-but-does-not-change-the-pu)?
To be clear, I have new user status on [Software Development](https://software.codidact.com/) but not here on Codidact Meta.
- As a "new user", I'm able to downvote, but not comment. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I should be able to explain the problem with a post before I'm able to affect another user's score, no? That's how it works on Stack Exchange (which I use a lot).[^1]
- I'm asking because I just downvoted an answer, and when I went to comment to explain why, the comment button was greyed out.
- Now, when I look at the [Participate Ability](https://meta.codidact.com/abilities/everyone) (new user level) and the [Participate Everywhere Ability](https://meta.codidact.com/abilities/unrestricted) (above new user), they don't match what I'm seeing. Participate says "vote on answers **to own posts**" while Participate Everywhere says "vote and comment **anywhere**". So is this a bug that I'm able to downvote? Or is this a feature like [Stack Exchange's thing where your votes get recorded while you're new but not applied](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/339184/what-does-it-mean-when-it-says-my-vote-is-recorded-but-does-not-change-the-pu)?
- To be clear, I have new user status on [Software Development](https://software.codidact.com/) but not here on Codidact Meta.
- [^1]: [Downvote at 125](https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/vote-down) vs [comment anywhere at 50](https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/comment) (actually currently [at 1 for an experiment](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/434624/further-experimentation-with-comment-reputation-requirements))
#4: Post edited
by
wjandrea
·
2026-07-27T22:08:27Z (about 2 months ago)
I forgot the bug tag
#3: Post edited
by
wjandrea
·
2026-07-27T21:41:55Z (about 2 months ago)
more details, updates
- As a "new user", I'm able to downvote, but not comment. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I should be able to explain the problem with a post before I'm able to affect another user's score, no? I believe that's how it works on Stack Exchange (which I use a lot).
- I'm asking because I just downvoted an answer, and when I went to comment to explain why, the comment button was greyed out.
Now, when I look at the [Participate Ability](https://meta.codidact.com/abilities/everyone) (new user level) and the [Participate Everywhere Ability](https://meta.codidact.com/abilities/unrestricted) (above new user), they don't match what I'm seeing. Participate says "vote on answers **to own posts**" while Participate Everywhere says "vote and comment **anywhere**". So is this a bug that I'm able to downvote? Or is this a feature like Stack Exchange's thing where your votes get recorded while you're new but not applied until you graduate?- To be clear, I have new user status on [Software Development](https://software.codidact.com/) but not here on Codidact Meta.
- As a "new user", I'm able to downvote, but not comment. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I should be able to explain the problem with a post before I'm able to affect another user's score, no? I believe that's how it works on Stack Exchange (which I use a lot).
- I'm asking because I just downvoted an answer, and when I went to comment to explain why, the comment button was greyed out.
- Now, when I look at the [Participate Ability](https://meta.codidact.com/abilities/everyone) (new user level) and the [Participate Everywhere Ability](https://meta.codidact.com/abilities/unrestricted) (above new user), they don't match what I'm seeing. Participate says "vote on answers **to own posts**" while Participate Everywhere says "vote and comment **anywhere**". So is this a bug that I'm able to downvote? Or is this a feature like [Stack Exchange's thing where your votes get recorded while you're new but not applied](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/339184/what-does-it-mean-when-it-says-my-vote-is-recorded-but-does-not-change-the-pu)?
- To be clear, I have new user status on [Software Development](https://software.codidact.com/) but not here on Codidact Meta.
#2: Post edited
by
wjandrea
·
2026-07-27T21:35:27Z (about 2 months ago)
more details, updates
As a "new user", I'm able to downvote, but not comment. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I should be able to explain the problem with a post before I'm able to affect another user's score, no? I believe that's how it works on Stack Exchange.- To be clear, I have new user status on [Software Development](https://software.codidact.com/) but not here on Codidact Meta.
- As a "new user", I'm able to downvote, but not comment. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I should be able to explain the problem with a post before I'm able to affect another user's score, no? I believe that's how it works on Stack Exchange (which I use a lot).
- I'm asking because I just downvoted an answer, and when I went to comment to explain why, the comment button was greyed out.
- Now, when I look at the [Participate Ability](https://meta.codidact.com/abilities/everyone) (new user level) and the [Participate Everywhere Ability](https://meta.codidact.com/abilities/unrestricted) (above new user), they don't match what I'm seeing. Participate says "vote on answers **to own posts**" while Participate Everywhere says "vote and comment **anywhere**". So is this a bug that I'm able to downvote? Or is this a feature like Stack Exchange's thing where your votes get recorded while you're new but not applied until you graduate?
- To be clear, I have new user status on [Software Development](https://software.codidact.com/) but not here on Codidact Meta.
#1: Initial revision
by
wjandrea
·
2026-07-27T21:22:18Z (about 2 months ago)
Why can I downvote before I can comment?
As a "new user", I'm able to downvote, but not comment. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I should be able to explain the problem with a post before I'm able to affect another user's score, no? I believe that's how it works on Stack Exchange. To be clear, I have new user status on [Software Development](https://software.codidact.com/) but not here on Codidact Meta.