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I get good answers all the time on SO or used to. My problem is that I've been down voted several times for "stupid question" and also been down voted for not k

I get good answers all the time on SO or used to. My problem is that I've been down voted several times for "stupid question" and also been down voted for not knowing what I was talking about in an area I'm an expert in. I had one question that was a bit odd and went against testing dogma that I had a friend post. He pulled it 30 minutes later as he was already down 30 votes. It was a thing that's not best practice in most cases but also in certain situations the only way to do it. Like when you're testing apis you don't control. In some sections people also want textbook or better quality answers from random strangers on the internet. The final part is that you at least used to have to build up a lot of karma to be able to post effectively or at all in some sections or be seen. Which is very catch 22. So it can be both very useful and very sh*t.

fabian2k 2y ago
-30 votes would be extremely unusual on SO. That amount of votes even including upvotes in such a short time would be almost impossible. The only way you get that kind of massive voting is either if the question hits the "Hot Network Questions" or if an external site like HN with a high population of SO users links to it and drives lots of traffic. Questions with a negative score won't hit the hot network questions, so it seems very unlikely to me that it could be voted on that much.
- wizzwizz4 2y ago
  You can get +30 from the HNQ list, but -30 is much harder, because the association bonus only gives you 101 rep, and the threshold for downvoting is 125.
- o11c 2y ago
  I don't think I've ever seen anything, no matter how bad, go below -5, and most don't go below -1. Once a question is downvoted: - it's less likely that the question even gets shown - it's less likely that people will even click on it - it's less likely that people who think it's bad will bother to vote on it, since the votes are already doing the right thing - if it's really bad, it will be marked for deletion before it gets that many downvotes anyway SO has its problems but I don't even recognize half the things people complain about.

fabian2k 2y ago

-30 votes would be extremely unusual on SO. That amount of votes even including upvotes in such a short time would be almost impossible. The only way you get that kind of massive voting is either if the question hits the "Hot Network Questions" or if an external site like HN with a high population of SO users links to it and drives lots of traffic. Questions with a negative score won't hit the hot network questions, so it seems very unlikely to me that it could be voted on that much.

wizzwizz4 2y ago
You can get +30 from the HNQ list, but -30 is much harder, because the association bonus only gives you 101 rep, and the threshold for downvoting is 125.
o11c 2y ago
I don't think I've ever seen anything, no matter how bad, go below -5, and most don't go below -1. Once a question is downvoted: - it's less likely that the question even gets shown - it's less likely that people will even click on it - it's less likely that people who think it's bad will bother to vote on it, since the votes are already doing the right thing - if it's really bad, it will be marked for deletion before it gets that many downvotes anyway SO has its problems but I don't even recognize half the things people complain about.