language - Why does Stack Exchange require you to click to be turned down?

On any Stack Exchange site you can't vote for your own question.

So, Why does it give you the option, and then reject your vote? Would it not be better just not to have the option?

This way they are not receiving negative commands?

An alternative would be to have the rating but not show the arrows...

Answer

I believe there are two aspects to it.

• So that you can see the number of upvotes\downvotes you have got on your question\answer : If they had to somehow disable it, they would have to find a way of communicating that it was disabled for you while showing the number of upvotes\downvotes which is an additional design change and users will need to figure out what the new look means .

• Ensuring consistent design : By keeping the design consistent, users can relate to the overall structure and layout easier.To quote this article

ELEMENTS

When I say elements, I mean the footer, sidebar, or navigation. Users will get used to the location of these elements, so they should be kept in the same place. Remember, your website should be logical to the users and that can be accomplished when you have a consistent placement of your elements.

Taking all of this into consideration,it would be an easier and more effective design to just allow users to accidentally discover that self-voting functionality is forbidden.