Timeline for Upvoting a question because it has too many downvotes
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
18 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 21, 2017 at 5:45 | comment | added | Asaf Karagila Mod | Let me also add to my previous comment, that it is just as reasonable that some people who could have contributed to the site very much came in, saw that badly written questions get upvoted and answered, and decided not to contribute. | |
| Mar 21, 2017 at 4:51 | comment | added | Asaf Karagila Mod | Yes, and you could have stepped outside and got hit by a bus. Life is full of randomness and events outside our direct control. There are genius people who will forever remain in their impoverished villages in underdeveloped rural areas. Equally so, you could have been heavily downvoted and left the site. And I am sure more than a handful of people who could have contributed nicely left for such reasons. That's just life. | |
| Mar 21, 2017 at 4:39 | comment | added | mrnovice | @AsafKaragila Here's a link to my first question I posted on this site: math.stackexchange.com/questions/2142822/wronskian-matrix At first I received a down vote, and got a bit demoralised - but then some one commented some advice and it helped me to learn Mathjax. On a different day, that question could have easily been barraged by down votes, and I probably would never have gotten 'involved' in the site | |
| Mar 21, 2017 at 4:37 | comment | added | Asaf Karagila Mod | @mrnovice: If you don't look around to see what is acceptable before posting something, that is your fault. Just like walking naked in the street will get you arrested, even if you weren't aware of any rule requiring you to put on some pants. | |
| Mar 21, 2017 at 4:36 | comment | added | Asaf Karagila Mod | @Zaid: This is not about time, it's about energy you've put into the site. | |
| Mar 21, 2017 at 4:34 | comment | added | mrnovice | @AsafKaragila Of course I can understand wanting to 'keep out' a certain type of user with down votes. However, when there is a clear attempt by them to engage in the spirit of the site, but they fail on something like formatting - then receiving a barrage of down votes can be demoralising and turn away a potentially active member. | |
| Mar 21, 2017 at 4:31 | comment | added | Asaf Karagila Mod | @Zaid, mrnovice: You are both relatively new to the site. And I understand why you feel the way you feel. But downvotes are important to the site, in part to educate users about posting etiquette and to help drive away "help vampires". As someone who is proud to call this website a kind of home, don't ruin my home. | |
| Mar 21, 2017 at 4:27 | comment | added | mrnovice | @AsafKaragila Well, there are plenty of examples of questions (I can link some if you'd like) where a very simple question which has a very simple answer that subsequently can get a large number of up votes. What I'm saying is that if a very basic answer which was entirely correct had 0 up votes, I'd be more inclined to up vote it than if it had say 20. I think there are others who follow the same voting pattern as I do. | |
| Mar 21, 2017 at 4:23 | comment | added | Asaf Karagila Mod | Why do you think there are so many "basic answers" with a large number of upvotes? Because not everyone vote the same as you. Sure, some people downvote out of malice, spite, or because they dislike the user posting for one of many reasons. But sometimes people downvote out of consideration. And automatically canceling those votes is tantamount to canceling other people's opinions for no reason. | |
| Mar 21, 2017 at 4:19 | comment | added | mrnovice | @AsafKaragila I would say it depends on how you vote. I usually up vote answers based on how good/difficult/well they answer the question and how many votes they already have. For instance if I see a very basic answer with a high number of up votes, I wouldn't up vote it, but if I see a very well thought out and researched answer with a low number of up votes, I'd up vote it. If other people vote with the same mentality - then in theory the total votes on an answer tend to the number which the community deems appropriate. | |
| Mar 21, 2017 at 4:14 | comment | added | Asaf Karagila Mod | @Zaid: Canceling downvotes is the same as telling people "Maybe this question is bad, but your opinion doesn't matter". You effectively cancel out someone's opinion. For no good reason, other than canceling it out. | |
| Mar 20, 2017 at 21:04 | comment | added | user14972 | @mrnovice: While it probably should be the subject of a new meta post rather than a comment discussion, deterring further participation is a goal; not everyone submits to the philosophy that "all participation is good participation". (or, more precisely, deterring further participation of the same sort as the downvoted post) | |
| Mar 20, 2017 at 20:57 | answer | added | user14972 | timeline score: 8 | |
| Mar 20, 2017 at 20:56 | comment | added | mrnovice | @Hurkyl That's a good question which I hadn't thought of. For me the answer is no, I have never down voted a question in that manner. But I'd like to raise a distinction between the two. Usually the people who ask the poor questions are new to the site and so receiving an excessive amount of down votes can deter further participation. | |
| Mar 20, 2017 at 20:51 | comment | added | user14972 | Aside: have you also considered downvoting questions that aren't worthy of so many up votes? | |
| Mar 20, 2017 at 19:30 | comment | added | Martin Sleziak | Closely related: A minor gripe about upvoting things that have been downvoted. (Maybe also som of the posts linked there might be of interest.) | |
| Mar 20, 2017 at 19:29 | history | edited | Martin Sleziak |
edited tags
|
|
| Mar 20, 2017 at 19:19 | history | asked | mrnovice | CC BY-SA 3.0 |