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This is a legitimate question, and I agree that old technology should not be a basis for downvoting. The Meta discussions you linked to focus on obsolete information, and that is one source of the problem. But I have a different take on a more prevalent cause of the phenomenon.

You mention one downvote leading to more. Voting doesn't affect movement to the active questions list, so random successive downvotes on an old post are unlikely. Most of the cases I've seen were because someone had contributed a new answer, or a spammer searched for a suitable question to use as an excuse to post an answer. That pushes the question into the active list, where it gets rediscovered. There are also many cases of someone discovering an old question or answer and editing it to improve or update it. That similarly bumps the question.

I have not seen any questions or answers downvoted solely on the basis of being about old technology, or correctness that may have changed over time (this just reflects relative prevalence). But I have seen many old questios, and answers, downvoted on the basis of site standards having changed over time. The issue you raise about protecting old posts applies to these, as well, and may be a more commonplace problem.

Maybe the biggest source of such delayed downvoting is software/hardware recommendations. These were commonplace many years ago, and still accepted even a few years ago. They've become more taboo in maybe the last year. I've seen many of these downvoted on that basis.

The community expectations for question and answer quality have also risen. Many of the very old questions and answers are lacking in quality by today's standards. I've seen many of these get recent downvotes on that basis after being reactivated by new activity.

Questions that are no longer on topic, like software recs, should be closed, and retained if they received useful answers, but downvoting long after they were considered acceptable is probably inappropriate. I could see a warning, like your suggestion #1, being expanded to include changing site standards as well as technology age.

Questions, and answers, that are simply low quality can be improved, and an argument can be made that there should not be a time limit on that. However, old posts that were originally considered acceptable might be candidates for protection like "conditional" downvotes (downvotes that trigger a notice to the voter if the post is edited so the downvote can potentially be retracted and not permanently prejudice the post).

I agree that old technology should not be a basis for downvoting. The Meta discussions you linked to focus on obsolete information, and that is one source of the problem. But I have a different take on a more prevalent cause of the phenomenon.

You mention one downvote leading to more. Voting doesn't affect movement to the active questions list, so random successive downvotes on an old post are unlikely. Most of the cases I've seen were because someone had contributed a new answer, or a spammer searched for a suitable question to use as an excuse to post an answer. That pushes the question into the active list, where it gets rediscovered. There are also many cases of someone discovering an old question or answer and editing it to improve or update it. That similarly bumps the question.

I have not seen any questions or answers downvoted solely on the basis of being about old technology, or correctness that may have changed over time (this just reflects relative prevalence). But I have seen many old questios, and answers, downvoted on the basis of site standards having changed over time. The issue you raise about protecting old posts applies to these, as well, and may be a more commonplace problem.

Maybe the biggest source of such delayed downvoting is software/hardware recommendations. These were commonplace many years ago, and still accepted even a few years ago. They've become more taboo in maybe the last year. I've seen many of these downvoted on that basis.

The community expectations for question and answer quality have also risen. Many of the very old questions and answers are lacking in quality by today's standards. I've seen many of these get recent downvotes on that basis after being reactivated by new activity.

Questions that are no longer on topic, like software recs, should be closed, and retained if they received useful answers, but downvoting long after they were considered acceptable is probably inappropriate. I could see a warning, like your suggestion #1, being expanded to include changing site standards as well as technology age.

Questions, and answers, that are simply low quality can be improved, and an argument can be made that there should not be a time limit on that. However, old posts that were originally considered acceptable might be candidates for protection like "conditional" downvotes (downvotes that trigger a notice to the voter if the post is edited so the downvote can potentially be retracted and not permanently prejudice the post).

This is a legitimate question, and I agree that old technology should not be a basis for downvoting. The Meta discussions you linked to focus on obsolete information, and that is one source of the problem. But I have a different take on a more prevalent cause of the phenomenon.

You mention one downvote leading to more. Voting doesn't affect movement to the active questions list, so random successive downvotes on an old post are unlikely. Most of the cases I've seen were because someone had contributed a new answer, or a spammer searched for a suitable question to use as an excuse to post an answer. That pushes the question into the active list, where it gets rediscovered. There are also many cases of someone discovering an old question or answer and editing it to improve or update it. That similarly bumps the question.

I have not seen any questions or answers downvoted solely on the basis of being about old technology, or correctness that may have changed over time (this just reflect relative prevalence). But I have seen many old questios, and answers, downvoted on the basis of site standards having changed over time.

Maybe the biggest source of such delayed downvoting is software/hardware recommendations. These were commonplace many years ago, and still accepted even a few years ago. They've become more taboo in maybe the last year. I've seen many of these downvoted on that basis.

The community expectations for question and answer quality have also risen. Many of the very old questions and answers are lacking in quality by today's standards. I've seen many of these get recent downvotes on that basis after being reactivated by new activity.

Questions that are no longer on topic, like software recs, should be closed, and retained if they received useful answers, but downvoting long after they were considered acceptable is probably inappropriate. I could see a warning, like your suggestion #1, being expanded to include changing site standards as well as technology age.

Questions, and answers, that are simply low quality can be improved, and an argument can be made that there should not be a time limit on that. However, old posts that were originally considered acceptable might be candidates for protection like "conditional" downvotes (downvotes that trigger a notice to the voter if the post is edited so the downvote can potentially be retracted and not permanently prejudice the post).

This is a legitimate question, and I agree that old technology should not be a basis for downvoting. The Meta discussions you linked to focus on obsolete information, and that is one source of the problem. But I have a different take on a more prevalent cause of the phenomenon.

You mention one downvote leading to more. Voting doesn't affect movement to the active questions list, so random successive downvotes on an old post are unlikely. Most of the cases I've seen were because someone had contributed a new answer, or a spammer searched for a suitable question to use as an excuse to post an answer. That pushes the question into the active list, where it gets rediscovered. There are also many cases of someone discovering an old question or answer and editing it to improve or update it. That similarly bumps the question.

I have not seen any questions or answers downvoted solely on the basis of being about old technology, or correctness that may have changed over time (this just reflects relative prevalence). But I have seen many old questios, and answers, downvoted on the basis of site standards having changed over time. The issue you raise about protecting old posts applies to these, as well, and may be a more commonplace problem.

Maybe the biggest source of such delayed downvoting is software/hardware recommendations. These were commonplace many years ago, and still accepted even a few years ago. They've become more taboo in maybe the last year. I've seen many of these downvoted on that basis.

The community expectations for question and answer quality have also risen. Many of the very old questions and answers are lacking in quality by today's standards. I've seen many of these get recent downvotes on that basis after being reactivated by new activity.

Questions that are no longer on topic, like software recs, should be closed, and retained if they received useful answers, but downvoting long after they were considered acceptable is probably inappropriate. I could see a warning, like your suggestion #1, being expanded to include changing site standards as well as technology age.

Questions, and answers, that are simply low quality can be improved, and an argument can be made that there should not be a time limit on that. However, old posts that were originally considered acceptable might be candidates for protection like "conditional" downvotes (downvotes that trigger a notice to the voter if the post is edited so the downvote can potentially be retracted and not permanently prejudice the post).

This is a legitimate question, and I agree that old technology should not be a basis for downvoting. But I have a different take on the cause of the phenomenon.

You mention one downvote leading to more. Voting doesn't affect movement to the active questions list, so random successive downvotes on an old post are unlikely. Most of the cases I've seen were because someone had contributed a new answer, or a spammer searched for a suitable question to use as an excuse to post an answer. That pushes the question into the active list, where it gets rediscovered. There are also many cases of someone discovering an old question or answer and editing it to improve or update it. That similarly bumps the question.

I have not seen any questions downvoted solely on the basis of being about old technology. But I have seen many old questios, and answers, downvoted on the basis of site standards having changed over time.

Maybe the biggest source of such delayed downvoting is software/hardware recommendations. These were commonplace many years ago, and still accepted even a few years ago. They've become more taboo in maybe the last year. I've seen many of these downvoted on that basis.

The community expectations for question and answer quality have also risen. Many of the very old questions and answers are lacking in quality by today's standards. I've seen many of these get recent downvotes on that basis after being reactivated by new activity.

Questions that are no longer on topic, like software recs, should be closed, and retained if they received useful answers, but downvoting long after they were considered acceptable is probably inappropriate. I could see a warning, like your suggestion #1, being expanded to include changing site standards as well as technology age.

Questions, and answers, that are simply low quality can be improved, and an argument can be made that there should not be a time limit on that. However, old posts that were originally considered acceptable might be candidates for protection like "conditional" downvotes (downvotes that trigger a notice to the voter if the post is edited so the downvote can potentially be retracted and not permanently prejudice the post).

This is a legitimate question, and I agree that old technology should not be a basis for downvoting. The Meta discussions you linked to focus on obsolete information, and that is one source of the problem. But I have a different take on a more prevalent cause of the phenomenon.

You mention one downvote leading to more. Voting doesn't affect movement to the active questions list, so random successive downvotes on an old post are unlikely. Most of the cases I've seen were because someone had contributed a new answer, or a spammer searched for a suitable question to use as an excuse to post an answer. That pushes the question into the active list, where it gets rediscovered. There are also many cases of someone discovering an old question or answer and editing it to improve or update it. That similarly bumps the question.

I have not seen any questions or answers downvoted solely on the basis of being about old technology, or correctness that may have changed over time (this just reflect relative prevalence). But I have seen many old questios, and answers, downvoted on the basis of site standards having changed over time.

Maybe the biggest source of such delayed downvoting is software/hardware recommendations. These were commonplace many years ago, and still accepted even a few years ago. They've become more taboo in maybe the last year. I've seen many of these downvoted on that basis.

The community expectations for question and answer quality have also risen. Many of the very old questions and answers are lacking in quality by today's standards. I've seen many of these get recent downvotes on that basis after being reactivated by new activity.

Questions that are no longer on topic, like software recs, should be closed, and retained if they received useful answers, but downvoting long after they were considered acceptable is probably inappropriate. I could see a warning, like your suggestion #1, being expanded to include changing site standards as well as technology age.

Questions, and answers, that are simply low quality can be improved, and an argument can be made that there should not be a time limit on that. However, old posts that were originally considered acceptable might be candidates for protection like "conditional" downvotes (downvotes that trigger a notice to the voter if the post is edited so the downvote can potentially be retracted and not permanently prejudice the post).