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Please, lower the (unknown) reputation threshold for holding the votes on the site, when a user account is removed. Also, I suggest to include a minimum threshold for number of votes a user has cast before disregarding them blindly.

For example:

If reputation is greater than 200 or total votes cast is at least 50, don't delete the votes!!

Here is a study-case for this matter:

Yesterday a >2k rep user from GIS SE (GeoKevin) left the site.
He was already giving warnings (on chat and meta) he would do that.

So far Ok, everybody has the right to disagree and leave, but I believe it does not mean his votes need to be removed.

Pretty sure GeoKevin used GIS SE fairly and did many contributions.

This is not a nice feature on SE (IMO) and it disrespects people who are willing to stay and contribute. It is a demotivation for participation (at least for me).
It also damages the site, because it shrinks the stats like questions answered, votes per thread, etc.

No problem to delete the votes if a user cheats and get banned from the site (in such cases, this is fair).

This is a feature heavily supported by the community, but can't say if SE is considering or just ignoring it.

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  • 2
    Out of curiosity--I was totally unaware of any discontent--could you tell us where the chat and meta communications are that you refer to?
    – whuber
    Mar 28 '14 at 15:40
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    @whuber, it is more difficult to track now that the account was removed. Two examples, can be found here - meta, and here - chat (see October, 27th, 2013).
    – Andre Silva
    Mar 28 '14 at 15:56
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    Thanks. I appreciate you hunting those down those links because I know it can be hard to find them. (The continued existence of a user on the chat system after they have disappeared from the main system is a known "anomaly", BTW. The two systems are quasi-independent of each other.) Since there is nothing actionable in those posts and--seemingly--little that can be learned from them to improve our site, I am less concerned. High-rep people burn out or lose interest after a while, so most sites lose them occasionally.
    – whuber
    Mar 28 '14 at 16:33
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    I think it is a shame that GeoKevin has left because he made some excellent contributions. However, I am not sure that his votes have gone because to the best of my recollection my reputation seems to be the same this morning as it was last night. I would be surprised if his upvotes and downvotes on my Answers and Questions exactly cancelled out.
    – PolyGeo Mod
    Mar 28 '14 at 22:26
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    Same sentiments and regrets about GeoKevin leaving. I also did not notice any reputation change, so perhaps there already is a formula in place for this very reason. In any case, this seems like an SE-wide question so it being here does not really serve to get the problem resolved (if it exists). Does anyone have any evidence that the votes were actually removed?
    – blah238
    Mar 29 '14 at 0:51
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    The motivation for this question arose when I faced (yesterday) on my reputation history -18 rep with the following explanation: "user was removed". I could not know which user, but then when I came to Meta I realized two answers of mine were lighter by one upvote, and in both GeoKevin was involved. I thought it could not be coincidence (despite I agree it is strange if no one else's rep was affected). Anyway, it could be other users, but I don't think removing the votes/rep make sense. @blah238 the issue really exits (see the link on question). (cc @PolyGeo).
    – Andre Silva
    Mar 29 '14 at 1:54
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    That's what I was wondering, thanks for the clarification. I was thinking it's possible that this had been changed since the answers on that MSO question.
    – blah238
    Mar 29 '14 at 2:12
  • I was -2 due to "user removed"
    – Martin F
    Mar 30 '14 at 16:08
  • I have also noticed today in the reputation that I've got -20 after '-20 17:42 removed User was removed'
    – Alex Tereshenkov
    Apr 22 '14 at 7:48
  • I'm seeking clarification of what happens in such cases now via a new Meta Question
    – PolyGeo Mod
    Apr 25 '14 at 23:58
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There was a recent modification in the system about how dropping of votes works when an user is deleted or decides to leave the Stack Exchange community (see Don't throw away all votes when a user is deleted).

Now, there is a threshold based on the number of votes cast, as was suggested in this question. The threshold is unknown, but it has been said that it is 'pretty low'.

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