What is reputation? How do I earn (and lose) it?

Overview

Reputation is a numerical representation of the trust and confidence you've earned from other users through your contributions.

Your reputation increases or decreases based on how other users respond to your questions, answers, and Articles.

As your reputation increases, you gain access to additional privileges that allow you to contribute more to the site.

All new users start with 1 reputation, and your reputation can never drop below 1.

Ways to earn and lose reputation

User votes are the primary way to earn and lose reputation, but other actions can also affect it.

Earn reputation

You can earn reputation when:

• Users upvote your questions, answers, and Articles.
• Another user accepts one of your answers.
• Another user awards a bounty to one of your answers.

Lose reputation

You can lose reputation when:

• Users downvote your questions or answers.
• You place a bounty on a question.

Users can't downvote Articles, so you'll never lose reputation from writing an Article.

Learn more

For more information about reputation, voting, and privileges, see Reputation and Voting.

If you have questions or issues, reach out to our support team for help.