It appears one member went and downvoted 9 of your posts in this thread in the last hour or so. So this is the reason you lost reputation. I won't disclose who this member is because it isn't my place to, but just letting you know what happened and that the reputation loss isn't a technical glitch.

However, note that when it says -3, I believe it's actually -4 unless the downvoter has negative reputation, this hasn't been fixed yet so the numbers displayed in the log don't quite match up (that said, no events are missing). So that would be the bug, and I think it has been reported (maybe a staff member can give an update)

I haven't read the thread contents, I just skimmed through the votes.

Yes, a particular member went on a down-vote rampage against your posts in that thread, but your posts were also sporadically downvoted by a wide variety of different users.

It's not cool for unnamed-user to go on a downvote rampage like that, but going off all the other (seemingly legit) downvotes that you received in that thread, perhaps you were being argumentative or using an unproductive attitude? I've undone just the rampage votes, but try and re-read the thread to find out why so many different people found your posts to be disagreeable.

Just confirming what Bacterius suggested: there is a known issue where reputation changes of + or - 4 points are recorded in the log as + or - 3 points -- this is a display error in the log only, and the system otherwise works as intended as far as changes to rep and in-topic vote-counts go. It's on the to-do list and we will get to fixing it, but this is relatively low priority.

The reputation log is also subject to caching and can have a (usually fairly brief) delay between votes being made in topics and showing up in the log. We consider this acceptable, and allows the site to remain more responsive in more time-critical areas.

Thanks for the report Jeremy!

I'll also look into the apparent down-vote rampage and have a word with the user in question if appropriate -- we don't enforce particular conditions and restrictions on usage of the system, but we do take action when we notice persistent usage that isn't consistent with the spirit in which it was intended.

If I might offer a little more unsolicited advice*, you might consider Hodgman's advice of thinking about why numerous users are down-voting your posts. To me, you sometimes come across as overly defensive and somewhat abrasive, choosing a combative rather than friendly tone. As a specific example, when someone suggested easing off the hostility you responded by noting that you were "returning fire", but you'll probably find most people would strongly disagree that the original post you were responding to (reply #21) was at all hostile. For future reference, it's actually you who is mistaken about the commonly used definition of "production value" (additional source, and another). Whilst I agree it certainly wouldn't be the norm, I also think it's not that unthinkable that an inexperienced group of players might have a turn in table-top D&D stretch out to around an hour -- the combination of possibly having to look up numerous things, being unsure of where to look those things up, having one or more discussions deciding how to interpret those rules, considering multiple unfamiliar options, and some slower maths, perhaps with some interruptions could easily lead to this result. Turns at my weekly game are usually 1-5 minutes, very occasionally stretching out to 10-15 if we get distracted mid-decision; other people's experiences can easily differ from this, especially if the vast majority of your own experience was with the same group of players.

Perhaps start off with the default assumption that people aren't attacking you, and ease off a little on the defensiveness and hostility. It's possible to have a disagreement without being so abrasive.

Not certain, but it appears to still be acting weird. I'm probably wrong, and it's probably nothing, but I learned long ago not to take things at face value and I *hate* surprises.

We'll take a careful look and make sure nothing is amiss -- I'll reply again to let you know what's discovered, but I probably won't get to it immediately.

About another five people read the thread in question, and downvoted various different posts.

I'll go on record and say I've downvoted (I believe) 3 different replies that were clearly unfit in tone and off topic.

Ramblings and arguments tend to drive conversations off topic, and being the original poster doesn't make you immune to turning an otherwise interesting topic into a mess hall.

There was general misconduct and lack of ethic in your replies, and it turned an otherwise interesting thread into a flame wars, which I particularly never encourage.

I've downvoted these specific posts as a result.

If you have an issue with that, come to me directly, whining on the board about being downvoted is just as mature as pretending you didn't light the fire.

I made this post because I suspected either a glitch or a single user abusing the system, and I was RIGHT. I was right, and this was confirmed by multiple moderators. Of course, you missed that part entirely, didn't you? What, were you too busy passing judgement to observe information? Are you so full of yourself that you feel you don't need to read a thread to know what it is about? Or are you so set in your opinion that no amount of evidence to the contrary can possibly sway you?

Basically, I'm asking you, personally, what in the FUCK is wrong with you?

I'll go on record and say I've downvoted (I believe) 3 different replies that were clearly unfit in tone and off topic.

Ramblings and arguments tend to drive conversations off topic, and being the original poster doesn't make you immune to turning an otherwise interesting topic into a mess hall.

There was general misconduct and lack of ethic in your replies, and it turned an otherwise interesting thread into a flame wars, which I particularly never encourage.

I've downvoted these specific posts as a result.

If you have an issue with that, come to me directly, whining on the board about being downvoted is just as mature as pretending you didn't light the fire.

I made this post because I suspected either a glitch or a single user abusing the system, and I was RIGHT. I was right, and this was confirmed by multiple moderators. Of course, you missed that part entirely, didn't you? What, were you too busy passing judgement to observe information? Are you so full of yourself that you feel you don't need to read a thread to know what it is about? Or are you so set in your opinion that no amount of evidence to the contrary can possibly sway you?

Basically, I'm asking you, personally, what in the FUCK is wrong with you?

not going to be making many friends with that attitude.