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I would like to be able to answer people again. I've read the help section and understand what it says but my answers are downvoted for some reason. I know the help says to "Try and improve your previous answers instead of deleting your answers." but everyone seems to hate my answers for some reason!

On one of the questions I answered, the OP said my answer was the one that really helped him, and everyone still downvoted that answer anyway. Another answer of mine is exactly the same as another guy's answer, yet only mine attracts negative votes.

I just don't get why my answers are the ones everyone hates. Now I can only communicate through comments on posts I interacted with and it sucks.

So, how can I improve my answers to remove my answer ban?

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    Generally, blaming others for your actions isn't really going to help you. You're making excuses, rather than actually improving your posts.
    – Frank
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 0:30
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    @Tobtob1987 - Just note as well, noone on Arqade is singling you out - we hold all our questions and answers to the same standard. We have the (rather lofty at times) goal of curating the site and maintaining good content to make the internet a better place. Thus we hold ourselves (and the posts here) to a high standard and are constantly reviewing, voting on, editing and deleting posts in order to maintain quality.
    – Robotnik Mod
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 1:56
  • Yea, sure. And honestly, what kind of website gives they're users a chance to redeem themselves by taking away they're ability to answer questions, and tell them to "fix" they're answers that literally everyone stopped looking at? I honestly don't get how that works. And plus, I only made 3 ANSWERS in my whole time here. So not much to do there. Maybe reducing the amount of answers an unproductive user can give out a day. But taking away the ability to answer just doesn't really seem to give users a chance to redeem themselves. But that's just me. You guys can do whatever u want.
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 4:21
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    Arqade is a QA website. One where asking and answering questions is a privilege, not a right. You had that privilege, until you demonstrated that you weren't using it correctly, so the system took it away from you. So if you want it back, well, you know what you have to do, but unfortunately, it's going to be rather difficult for you at this point. Your best bet is going to be asking good questions, until you've demonstrated that you're worthy of answering again. How long that takes, I don't know, but I suspect it will depend on how many answers of yours are deleted.
    – Frank
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 12:16
  • Only one was deleted by someone else.
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 12:32
  • Y'know, calling us mean instead of jerks still isn't helping you. You're still not taking responsibility for the quality of your posts.
    – Frank
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 2:32
  • You guys told me to change it and I did, to a thing a little less rude. And plus, im not calling you guys, like you you, mean, I like when it's with my answers, and not you guys directly you know.
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 4:12
  • And Frank, why is answering questions a privilege if your whole site is based around that?
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 4:45
  • @Tobtob1987 - I took a crack at making your question here sound less negative in order to focus more on the core point of improving, rather than what actions other users took - I hope this is ok. Also: to answer your query: answering (and asking, for that matter) is a 'privilege' because we strive to maintain quality above all else. If someone has a track record of posting bad content, then it shouldn't fall to users like us - Frank, myself and even you to be constantly available to clean up after them: The automated system tries to recognise bad patterns and put a stop to them quickly.
    – Robotnik Mod
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 16:26
  • oh ok I think I get it now. Thanks!
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 20:04
  • Oh I can answer again. YEEEESSSS!!! Thanks guys!
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 9, 2015 at 14:35
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    I'm sorry about my bad attitude everyone. I was a little grumpy at the time.
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 9, 2015 at 14:36

2 Answers 2

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Okay. Let's take a look at your current activities.

Your first answer:

Yes u can. All u have to do is tap on his name and tap promote to leader, if your talking about Clash of Clans. If you're talking about something else then I don't know.

First off, spelling. We like spelling and proper grammar here. Second of all, this had absolutely nothing to do with the game being asked about, which you acknowledged in your comment. In your rush to answer, you completely ignored what game it was for.

Your second answer:

Well my dear sir/madam, It does have the same jump as the sandstorm in a bottle. As it says on the wiki "The Sandstorm in a Balloon combines the effects of the Shiny Red balloon and the Sandstorm in a Bottle." so yes it does have the same jump.

Again, spelling and grammar. This one isn't as bad, but it could do with a touchup. But then, you haven't added anything new that hasn't already been said. We generally delete those types of answers.

Your third answer:

There's no real fast way to farm animals, but when u find 1 or 2 u might want to make a pen for them out of fence and lure them in. Pigs, and cows can be lured by wheat. Chickens are lured by grass seeds. Then use what u used to lure them to breed them and essentially, u have infinite food. Hope this helped.

Spelling. We love spelling. All day, every day. We worship the spelling and grammar gods. Beyond that, though, you're barely answering the question; it was asking how to quickly get EXP. There's a tiny blurb asking about farming animals, which is why this answer has survived, but really, you're not doing much.


So overall, in your rush to be helpful...you're really not. You've got one answer that might actually survive, but that's about it. When you're 1 for 3 (and that just barely), the system's got a track record, and it's betting you're not going to be posting valuable content.

So. Now that we've gone over your answers, what can you do to improve?

  1. Spelling. We have an absolutely unholy (or unhealthy) obsession with it, and it's twin, grammar. They are our friends, and for Arqade, they should be yours, too. Run through your posts, and clean them up. Put in some effort.
  2. Pay attention to what you're answering. An answer for a completely unrelated game is useless. Repeating what's already been said, without adding anything new is also not helpful.
  3. Attitude. This one's a running theme for you. You're not really taking responsibility for your content; you'd rather get mad at those who are "hating" on your posts. While a perfectly understandable reaction, it's also entirely counter-productive. Your posts are yours. You own them. You want to participate here, you have to live up to our standards. You don't get a pass; you get held to the same standards as the rest of us.

Really, all this boils down to is effort. You want to participate? Great! You have the informed badge, so you know what we're about. Hopefully you've read the rest of the content that's put in front of you. The rest of it is just putting in the time. Rushed answers won't help you. Take your time, run it through a spellchecker or two. Make sure it's right. Definitely make sure it's for the right game.

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    We really do love spelling. So much.
    – Ben
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 2:14
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    Incidentally, @Robotnik has since edited the asker's answers, leaving him with no spelling/grammar changes to make.
    – shanodin
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 3:43
  • @shanodin - "Edit when you see a problem, don't go searching for one", so sayeth the almighty spelling and grammar Gods. (Plus, the first answer has since been deleted as well)
    – Robotnik Mod
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 3:46
  • I want to give a little insight on why those answers might've been unproductive, unhelpful, ect. 1. On the first answer, I didn't even know tags existed, as it was my first 5 minutes. B. the answer that I "supposedly" copied hadn't showed up as I was typing my answer so I had no chance to see the answer before me. Third, this answer I'm most upset about, as the asker clearly stated in his question "Does anyone know how to farm animals OR other ways to get EXP?" So I was just answering the question being stated there.
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 4:11
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    @Tobtob1987 Yes, and as I've said, your main issue is a lack of effort. You're so eager to try to help, that you're not taking the time to look. So much so that the system has deemed that you need to be forcibly restricted. Your second answer came several weeks after existing answers, except for one, so if you didn't see them, well, there's very little we can do about that; they were there for you to see. Your third answer barely answers the question, as I stated. You latched onto a very small part of the question, without taking the whole thing into account.
    – Frank
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 4:16
  • The asker's question for my third answer literally asks "Is there a way to farm animals?" I directly answered the question, and it's not exactly a small part of it - it was half the question! The other half was answer by about 6 other people so what was I supposed to answer?
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 4:25
  • @Tobtob1987 the point is that you want to answer the whole question, not just part of it. A partial answer is not considered an answer, as it is only part. While what you have provided might not be wrong, you have not answered the question. More is always better! :)
    – Ben
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 5:01
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    To be fair, answer #3 is on a very ambiguously-worded question. It pretty much goes "I want to get heaps of exp really fast, how do I farm animals?". It itself is receiving downvotes for the lack of direction in the question, so I can see where you would've missed the XP stuff. Having said that though @Tobtob1987 - you could edit stuff in about gaining experience off of killing animals - that would make it more 'complete' :)
    – Robotnik Mod
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 5:41
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    @Tobtob1987 (PS, likewise you could remove the 'jerks' part of your question here on meta, as we're happy to help, but niceness goes a long way :)
    – Robotnik Mod
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 5:43
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    @Tobtob1987 Additionally, your answer was the first on that question. Which means your excuse is exactly that. Either way, though, it's pretty obvious that you don't see this issue as your fault. Take a look at my third point again. At the end of the day, you have to meet our standards. Which you haven't really done very well up to this point.
    – Frank
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 12:04
  • so how do I meet "your standards"?
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 4:15
  • And by the by, I edited my third answer to fully answer the question about 3 days ago and nothing changed since. It's just still one of the most crap answers there for some odd reason.
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 4:20
  • And can you undelete my first answer? I recently changed it after I actually looked up info about the question and provided what I think is a relevant answer.
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 4:34
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    @Tobtob1987 I undeleted the answer that you edited to be about the game in question. No guarantees of how the community will vote on it or anything, but I did see you attempting to improve. :)
    – user11502
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 14:42
  • Thx Ashley! And it has improved quite a bit
    – Tobtob1987
    Commented Aug 9, 2015 at 3:16
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The best way to remove your answer ban is to firstly improve the ones you have already provided. If you receive enough bad rep on your answers, you will not be able to provide any more until you receive enough good rep, and prove that you are once again contributing.

Things to remember when providing a good answer:

  • Don't ask for clarification. An answer is there to answer the question, not ask more. That's what the comments are for.
  • Personal opinion is not an answer. Answers like "I think you should..." and "I think the problem is..." are not real great answers. In the odd chance you are right, those phrases often attract bad attention, so try and avoid that.
  • Add references or sources. If you can provide proof of your answer, no one can turn you down.
  • Make sure the answer is relevant to the question! I often see people contributing answers that have (seemingly) no relevance to the question, which is not constructive or useful. If you feel it is however, you need to explain how. The more detail the better.
  • Make sure your answer is unique. A lot of people just want to add their answer, and not check if anyone else has already provided that. Dupe answers are not often scored very highly, as they don't provide anything new, and just create extra baggage.

Correct spelling and grammar are also good contributors.

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  • Out of the answers he's provided, there's only one that should survive, really.
    – Frank
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 0:49
  • If he has any deleted answers (if I'm not mistaken, I believe this is the case), undeleting them and improving them may also help.
    – Ben
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 1:23
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    'twould, but based on the existing track record, chances are extremely good that those answers that were deleted, were done so because they didn't actually answer the question.
    – Frank
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 1:57

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