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>The cause is usually large growth from people with very different mindsets that downvote for essentially political reasons instead of encouraging good discours

>The cause is usually large growth from people with very different mindsets that downvote for essentially political reasons instead of encouraging good discourse. You've quite well described my latest experienced with StackExchange sites that are very popular (like Stack Overflow). The downvotes rain for any question without feedback. A comment provides an answer, but not an "Answer" that can be pinned. Vague "Opinion based" flags are sometimes levied, but similar questions for different regimes are upvoted and given quality answers.

LinuxBender 6y ago
I've had similar experiences on ServerFault part of StachExchange. If I simply answer a question with the correct technical answer, my answer is basically ignored. If I take that exact same answer and add a bold title, some cute paragraph formatting, some no-format text boxes, add some flowery wording like I am giving a Ted Talk, then people love my answers. So that is what I do and why I rarely answer questions any more. They also try to encourage me to edit other peoples posts, but I already have a day job.
- rhizome 6y ago
  I feel like a lot more people qualify to do metamoderation in the SO network than ever do it. This is essentially sabotage in the form of benign neglect.
  - LinuxBender 6y ago
    Very true and it gets even more complicated when there are small circles of full time editors that invoke elitism around document writing styles as well as chiming in on highly subjective answers and invoking dogmatic principals. In Unix/Linux, there are millions of ways to solve a problem, but the solution must fit into their perceived right way. Before long, people not in those elite circles or who do not get the hint are discouraged from editing or answering anything.
    - noizejoy 6y ago
      Fundamentalism and tribalism seems to exist in any subject. - I find incredibly annoying, disappointing, saddening and infuriating — yet can’t help but wonder if it’s the necessary evolutionary byproduct of our species to collaborate and overcome obstacles too large to tackle alone.
  - crispyambulance 6y ago
    It's true, but the gamification and rules, IMHO, attract personalities that take that stuff really, REALLY, seriously. Even to the point of being absurd. I suppose it's a kind of power trip to go around and mark questions as "duplicate" for even the most superficial nonsense-- I am looking at you, @gnat !

LinuxBender 6y ago

I've had similar experiences on ServerFault part of StachExchange. If I simply answer a question with the correct technical answer, my answer is basically ignored. If I take that exact same answer and add a bold title, some cute paragraph formatting, some no-format text boxes, add some flowery wording like I am giving a Ted Talk, then people love my answers. So that is what I do and why I rarely answer questions any more. They also try to encourage me to edit other peoples posts, but I already have a day job.

rhizome 6y ago
I feel like a lot more people qualify to do metamoderation in the SO network than ever do it. This is essentially sabotage in the form of benign neglect.
- LinuxBender 6y ago
  Very true and it gets even more complicated when there are small circles of full time editors that invoke elitism around document writing styles as well as chiming in on highly subjective answers and invoking dogmatic principals. In Unix/Linux, there are millions of ways to solve a problem, but the solution must fit into their perceived right way. Before long, people not in those elite circles or who do not get the hint are discouraged from editing or answering anything.
  - noizejoy 6y ago
    Fundamentalism and tribalism seems to exist in any subject. - I find incredibly annoying, disappointing, saddening and infuriating — yet can’t help but wonder if it’s the necessary evolutionary byproduct of our species to collaborate and overcome obstacles too large to tackle alone.
- crispyambulance 6y ago
  It's true, but the gamification and rules, IMHO, attract personalities that take that stuff really, REALLY, seriously. Even to the point of being absurd. I suppose it's a kind of power trip to go around and mark questions as "duplicate" for even the most superficial nonsense-- I am looking at you, @gnat !