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Rev

3

The solution would be to confront and/or muzzle the few people who give SO a bad name, but that's highly unlikely. Buying into the mythology that only an asshole can be a good techie..
– user397846
Commented Aug 21, 2018 at 0:57
"what do you think these people will do with this new information?" - for me, it causes me to stop and think a bit harder before down-voting and/or entering a short comment.
– Bryan Oakley
Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 14:59
For me... it has no impact. regardless my first course of action is looking for a close reason and users with this banner are more likely to ask questions that fit one. Since we can't specifically search for questions by these types of users, it won't have an impact on my actions.
– Kevin B
Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 18:43
8

@BryanOakley You should be voting based on the quality of the post. If you're not downvoting a post that you think is bad just because the user is new then you're doing something wrong. SO specifically is telling you that you shouldn't be doing that because of this. We want votes to reflect the quality of posts, not the age of the authors.
– Servy
Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 21:06
@Servy: "You should be voting based on the quality of the post. If you're not downvoting a post that you think is bad just because the user is new then you're doing something wrong" - I wholeheartedly agree. However, having a notice that helps remind us that maybe we should take a moment to reconsider a downvote rather than just downvoting and moving on seems like a good thing for the site as a whole.
– Bryan Oakley
Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 21:11
8

@BryanOakley Why? Why do we want people to hesitate before giving useful and accurate feedback? We already have a serious problem of people not downvoting enough when they encounter bad content. Getting people to be that much more hesitant to downvote stuff that they actually think is bad is harmful, not helpful.
– Servy
Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 21:22
@Servy "Why? Why do we want people to hesitate before giving useful and accurate feedback" - because that pause may help us to give better feedback than just a downvote. I don't know about you, but my goal here is to help people. Sometimes a friendly comment is more useful than an immediate downvote IMHO.
– Bryan Oakley
Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 21:32
7

@BryanOakley Well SO's been trying to go out of their way to make it harder and harder for people to comment, and to discourage people from commenting as much as they can. They think that new users think it's "unwelcoming" to be told that your question is problematic or how to fix it, so they've been making lots of changes to encourage people to just vote and not comment. I'm not a fan. Also, providing a comment on how the post can be improved doesn't prevent you from casting a vote to reflect your opinion of the quality of the post. You can do both. You don't have to choose just one.
– Servy
Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 21:36
"Also, providing a comment on how the post can be improved doesn't prevent you from casting a vote to reflect your opinion of the quality of the post. You can do both. You don't have to choose just one." - yes, I am aware of that. I think this notice is great, because it reminds me to pause and ask myself if I can do better than just downvoting.
– Bryan Oakley
Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 21:41
1

@BryanOakley But you said repeatedly that you're not downvoting posts that you think are bad just because you think the user is new. You didn't say, "When I think the user is new I'm more likely to post a comment explaining how to improve the post, when I think it's a bad post." Had you said that, I wouldn't have replied at all.
– Servy
Commented Aug 23, 2018 at 21:27
2

honestly this notice is just a flag to not comment because the person is most likely to just target you with their frustration of the other people that down vote as well but are smart enough to just vote and move on. So you make yourself a target to the very people most likely to take down votes/close votes as personal attacks. This just reinforces to never comment on low rep questions/answers as to not become a target of their frustration.
– user148287
Commented Aug 24, 2018 at 16:57

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