24 votes

Is it reasonable to downvote answers because you dislike a question?

I left a comment in that question saying the premise was racist, but the OP then also commented that yep, that was a racist world. Then it came to me: sometimes we mistake representation of evil with ...
23 votes

Voting behavior: upvote vs upvote & downvote. How do you feel about it?

For starters, let's call a spade a spade here. Downvoting an answer because you liked another answer better is not only mean-spirited, it's contrary to this website's whole point. It's not about your ...
  • 40.3k
22 votes
Accepted

Enforcing mandatory comment when downvoting

This is an oft-declined request on Meta.SE. For example: Mandatory comment after downvote Must comment while downvoting Change Down Voting to Require Comment for Why & Change Flag to Report Make ...
22 votes
Accepted

Why was my post downvoted?

When science isn't science Science and speculation aren't a good mix. When the two meet in one post, it's incredibly easy to speculate that something might be a good scientific theory. However, this ...
20 votes
Accepted

Why is this disliked?

The primary problem that I have with that question is that I find it unreadable. You wander off talking about crime and then start talking about a young man getting paid to go places and be good ...
  • 25.1k
18 votes

Why are 'plausible magic' questions so poorly received?

There is an increasing tend on the Stack to measure "possible, plausible, and probable" by Real Life I've noted over the last six months that more and more people are judging questions by ...
  • 107k
17 votes
Accepted

Drive-By downvotes and Do we take things a bit too seriously?

Specific comments on the question Comment #1: Ack! Inhomogeneity! While not a reason for closure, I'd like to point out that the use of bolding, italics, ...
  • 98.2k
16 votes

Please help me understand these downvotes

I am pretty sure I was the first to downvote your answer! Note, I am also the person that asked the question. I downvoted your answer because it changes the premise of the question. In a black-box ...
  • 12.1k
14 votes

Where are the downvotes?

Why aren't people downvoting more? Here are some possible explanations: Many questions are subjective, and have no "wrong" answer. This is not the case on most other Stack Exchange sites. For ...
  • 98.2k
13 votes

Is it reasonable to downvote answers because you dislike a question?

This has been addressed in a more specific form here. Generally speaking, I'd argue the same: The real question to be addressed here is: does the answer in question warrant a downvote on its own merit ...
  • 37.8k
11 votes

Is this a case of vote fraud?

It might (or might not) be less-than-honest voting, but that wouldn't qualify as vote fraud even if it all came from the same voter. When Stack Exchange talks about vote fraud they mean targeting ...
11 votes

Mass simultaneous downvotes: What is the cause?

I've done some digging with the mod tools, and I'm ~110% sure that you were a victim of serial downvoting. I've taken action in reponse. Now, I can't manually reverse the votes, but the system should ...
  • 98.2k
11 votes

What am I doing wrong in this question?

Any answer we can give here will be purely speculative until the miserable miscreants reveal their own rationales. In skimming the query, I can really only conclude that the issue might be one of your ...
  • 37.8k
10 votes

Why is this disliked?

This hit too close to our actual world and seemed to be some sort of sly remark on some current celebrity rather than an actual World-building question. While I don't love the implications, and I ...
10 votes
Accepted

Unwilling to downvote

In this case leaving a comment and flagging is a good solution, it will bring the question to other people's attention and it will either get deleted or down-voted or otherwise treated appropriately. ...
  • 76.7k
10 votes

Flags and close votes are not super downvotes

Especially, please don't use flags to try to delete answers that are wrong answers. Downvote those (and consider helping to improve them). Use flags for things that don't even answer the question, ...
10 votes
Accepted

To what extent should my personal failure to suspend my disbelief justify a downvote?

I was thinking about downvoting when I saw there was a meta post, so I figured I'd post where it was more useful. The issue I had with it is, once I peeled away the context, the question was and with ...
  • 130k
9 votes

Why the down-votes?

According to the hover text: Upvote -- "This question shows research effort; it is useful and clear" Downvote -- "This question does not show any research effort; it is not useful or unclear" ...
  • 25k
8 votes
Accepted

Why do people downvote but refrain from commenting the reason?

As one of the people who sometimes downvote without any comments, I will try to list for you my personal reasons for downvoting: 1: You are too political, borderline trolling. If the question is, say,...
8 votes
Accepted

Should I downvote an answer I disagree with even if the answer is appropriate?

Your votes are yours to do as you wish with. That said, the voting tooltips provide some guidelines: on the main site, the tooltips say: [Upvote]: This answer is useful [Downvote]: This answer ...
  • 10.3k
7 votes

Should I downvote a question that I am also voting to close or put on hold?

From the help center: Use your downvotes whenever you encounter an egregiously sloppy, no-effort-expended post, or an answer that is clearly and perhaps dangerously incorrect. Just because a ...
  • 17.4k
7 votes

Why are 'plausible magic' questions so poorly received?

I think this problem boils down to the fact that the real world is the logical basis for comparison, and that excludes magic as people tend to mean the term here. This shows up with any questions like ...
  • 7,042
6 votes

Why do people downvote but refrain from commenting the reason?

I only see one question on your account. In the case of that question they most likely also started a close vote, with the close vote reason being the same as for the downvote: Your question is not ...
  • 76.7k
6 votes
Accepted

Why is "What would it take to rename the planet?" being downvoted so heavily?

I hadn't seen the question before this meta post. In its present form it seems to be random, a little silly, and only loosely tied to worldbuilding. It seems to belong in a set like this: What ...
6 votes

Should I downvote an answer I disagree with even if the answer is appropriate?

There is no oversight on voting, beyond serial voting. You vote with your conscience, and the community's combined voting habits --not any one vote-- indicate the site's approval or disapproval. ...
  • 663
6 votes

Don't argue with comments on down and close votes, please

I disagree but mostly because you assume we have no choice but to carry on getting involved once we start. TLDR: If you give constructive feedback and the OP is getting belligerent then you don't ...
6 votes

Why the downvotes?

Alright... I know I shouldn't feed the trolls, but I think this needs to be said... I voted to close and downvoted this Meta post for being a rant. It doesn't serve a purpose other than stirring the ...
  • 10.6k
6 votes

Please help me understand these downvotes

I upvoted Dot_spots but had my own 2 cents: I didn't downvote your answer simply because I avoid highly answered straight forward questions like that (little room for improvement). But when I do down ...
  • 11.2k
6 votes

To what extent should my personal failure to suspend my disbelief justify a downvote?

I rarely downvote questions Or at least I think I rarely do. (People who can look at site statistics, and know how to do it, might possibly know better, but deep inside I believe that I rarely ...
  • 79.9k

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