# Stack Overflow testing my attention span **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stack-overflow-testing-my-attention-span/969651 "2022-08-14T17:41:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stack-overflow-testing-my-attention-span/969651/1 "2022-08-14T17:41:35Z")
Stack Overflow (being one of the most highly gamified, and some would say overmoderated, communites around, though that is IMHO) has a feature whereby first questions or first answers posted by new users are subject to review by other users: Once you pass a certain reputation level, you can click your way through a review queue for such posts, selecting options such as “Looks OK” or leaving feedback or criticism. Every now and then, when I find myself just having reviewed a post in that manner, the website will give me the following message: " Congratulations! This was only a test, designed to make sure you were paying attention. You passed." So apparently, the website is occasionally throwing fake posts at me. I suppose the purpose behind this is to test if I blindly click “Looks OK” or select another option for a post which, in the system’s view, should not be considered OK. Is that correct, or is there something more sophisticated going on? What happens if I don’t pass such a test? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stack-overflow-testing-my-attention-span/969651/2 "2022-08-14T20:45:28Z")
This seems like a question best answered on Stackexchange … where it has indeed been answered at length: > > Passed audits count as a successful review towards the review badges. A failed audit does not count toward the badges, but does not decrement your progress either; it simply adds none. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stack-overflow-testing-my-attention-span/969651/3 "2022-08-14T21:02:24Z")
Interesting - I have those review privileges and use them all the time, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ‘test’ review. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stack-overflow-testing-my-attention-span/969651/4 "2022-08-15T09:35:42Z")
I considered asking it on Stackexchange, but since the community there is, in my view, a bit adamant about its rules I figured I might get a more nuanced answer here (where lots of users are also active on SO). ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stack-overflow-testing-my-attention-span/969651/5 "2022-08-15T12:24:58Z")
Perfectly reasonable. I just searched the internet with the message you mentioned and one of the first results was that question on the “meta” stackexchange. And now we all know there’s a meta stackexchange. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stack-overflow-testing-my-attention-span/969651/6 "2022-08-15T12:50:00Z")
Based on things I’ve seen on Meta, I believe that there is a temporary lockout if you get a certain number of the tests wrong, I think it may be 3 in a month, and that you lose review privileges for a month. I’ve seen people who get annoyed by that because sometimes the test is wrong, since it seems to be automated. There will be the inevitable thread in Meta reporting such instances. I don’t know more than that because I myself have never actually done the reviews. In fact, it was only upon looking it up that I realized that I actually qualify for the lowest level of review on a couple sites.