-14

Please stop voting down new people, instead just fix their spelling mistakes, say whats wrong and don't be the guy that sounds like this:

CAN YOU PLEASE SPECIFY MORE OF YOUR PROBLEM BECAUSE I DON'T GET A THING YOU N##B I HOPE YOU GET VOTED DOWN, HERES A DOWNVOTE FOR YA!!!!

This is good site, it takes lots of time for somebody to get an answer on other Q&A sites, and if they get voted down too much they are risking bans from contributing stuff to the site

Please don't do this to new people, thank you.

5
  • 6
    Downvotes are not, and never have been, personal. If you don't like them, put more effort into your posts.
    – Frank
    Commented Oct 3, 2016 at 15:40
  • 1
    People consistently take downvotes personally even though "Downvotes are not, and never have been, personal.". If there isn't already then perhaps there should be a message somewhere to tell people not to take them personally, that way the people that take the downvotes personally will have a way to determine that they are not meant to take them personally.
    – user126536
    Commented Oct 4, 2016 at 11:29
  • 2
    Do you have a specific example of where this was done? Usually when I go into a question that is very low quality and has a new user, I try to at least tell them to clean it up or something.
    – FoxMcCloud
    Commented Oct 14, 2016 at 18:33
  • Related: Let's be nice to each other
    – Robotnik Mod
    Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 11:45
  • I don't even know what the word N##B is supposed to mean. Is that some kind of curse? The few times I've seen cursing on this site it's someone with no ill intent just adding "f*cking" to random words. (Although maybe this is because of a 4 year difference)
    – Penguin
    Commented Dec 3, 2020 at 2:17

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
11

If a post has very low quality (that you can't clearly understand what it means), it'll be downvoted and people will usually comment with the reason. If the post has acceptable yet still low quality, someone will likely edit it (here is a random example from today) and it'll likely be upvoted again.

In order to avoid getting downvoted at all:

On Questions:

Ask about on-topic and not off-topic stuff, pick clear titles and have a clear and descriptive body text and do the other points stated here.

On Answers:

Use good English, explain what you want to mean, don't use short versions of words (for example, use "you", not "u"). Try to state source if you can. There are more tips on writing a good answer here.

As a sidenote, people are free to use their downvotes as they want as long as it is not targeted (example: downvoting all posts of someone).

Also, you stated that you prefer StackExchange to Yahoo Answers. I do so too, and that's mostly because we prefer good posts and moderate the site to keep the quality high. Why not help us do that, so more people can get information easily and clearly? I recommend you to check the site tour if you haven't already as it talks about why StackExchange is different from Yahoo Answers or some random forum a bit more clearly than I did.

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7

Downvotes don't happen because users are new. In fact, they don't happen because of user actions at all. They happen because a post has an issue or two, and need fixing. Can they fix them? Sure. Sometimes. Other times the post is too confusing or lacking in detail to fix by anyone other than the poster. Or perhaps the voter doesn't have time to fix it. Or just doesn't feel like it. This is an all volunteer community; nobody gets paid to take care of it.

Downvotes are a signal that a post has issues. That's it, that's all. It has nothing to do with whether or not a user is new, old, has 100k reputation, or anything else pertaining to the user. New users generally acquire the majority of downvotes because they are not familiar with Arqade, don't read, and make no attempt to adapt to our quality standards. Put in the effort to fit in, and you'll do fine.

-3

Add a simple notification to the downvoted post, visible only to the user that made the post, make it stand out from the generic looking close reason box, perhaps by using a white text on an orange background in a speach bubble arrangement with an arrow pointing at the downvote button for the post.

The notification would link to a new or existing help topic that lists common reasons for downvotes and explains things to do about it such as editing. Once the user has clicked the link or dismissed it, the link does not appear on that post again, even if the post receives additional downvotes after that time.

There is already an entry explaining what down votes are for
Help Center > Privileges > Vote Down

Use your downvotes whenever you encounter an egregiously sloppy, no-effort-expended post, or an answer that is clearly and perhaps dangerously incorrect.

There's isn't an obvious link between that and how to deal with a post that has been downvoted though. I'm not currently aware of any help topic that explains what to do with a downvoted post, it might help if there was one.

For new users specifically, in addition to adding the notification to the downvoted post, put an entry in their inbox, this will help to highlight the notification and make it easier for them to access it. Do this only for their first downvoted post, any additional downvoted posts will not cause a notification to appear in their inbox.

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    Pushing more text in front of someone doesn't mean they will read it. When a user first starts, they get a ton of information pushed their way. 99% of them don't read it. This will be no different.
    – Frank
    Commented Oct 4, 2016 at 14:02
  • The designer will try to present things in such a way that someone new will not be overwhelmed.
    – user126536
    Commented Oct 4, 2016 at 14:25
  • 1
    I don't think it's ever that easy. As is, SE tries to minimize the barriers to entry. Adding more text adds more barriers. People aren't generally looking to stick around, or contribute; they just want an answer to their question, and don't really care about our rules. The value wouldn't be there for adding this.
    – Frank
    Commented Oct 4, 2016 at 14:30
  • 1
    "People aren't generally looking to stick around, or contribute; they just want an answer to their question, and don't really care about our rules. The value wouldn't be there for adding this.", perhaps it is dangerous to make final judgements about the intentions of others. I propose a less terminal approach, allow the people to make the choice, some will choose to do nothing, but some will choose to do something.
    – user126536
    Commented Oct 5, 2016 at 0:11
  • Then perhaps a more constructive approach would be in order, rather than just pushing the solution onto someone else. And doing some additional research into what's been proposed before and declined would be in order. There's lots of suggestions for preventing downvotes, or adding additional barriers. As far as I can tell, they've all been declined. It's all about optimizing for pearls, not sand
    – Frank
    Commented Oct 5, 2016 at 1:15

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