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I asked a question some time ago which got mixed response.

I edited the selected answer(myOwn) and short time after I got a down-vote on it which pisses me off because I feel it's a good answer and the question got alot of down-votes when I asked it and stands with -1.

So I flagged my answer explaining that after the edit I got a down-vote I don't understand and ask if it is the commentator that commented right after the down-vote. I expected that the mod could decide if it was a fair down-vote. After this:

declined - flags should only be used to make moderators aware of content that requires their intervention

I can figure out that it doesn't work that way.

I'm pissed off because the question got alot of down-votes and also alot of people telling me that I shouldn't be doing what I describe I'm doing in the question(ssh as root) and the guy who probably gave my answer the down-vote also is commenting on security while I didn't ask if it was secure to ssh as root, I asked how to change user in the shell.

My question is..... do I just bite it in and let it be....that I got these down-votes, -1 for the answer and stands -1 for the question or do I rebel and hope the gods will keep me safe?

Can you give your opinion on the question and selected answer?

Your input greatly appreciated.

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    Try not to take the DV's personally like that. They serve 2 primary functions. To help sort the A'ers from most valuable to least and to give feedback to the A'er if they have any glaring inaccuracies. Most people will undo DV's and reverse them once you make corrections, some ppl will not do this. This is just the price you pay for putting things out in the open for anyone to comment on. Remember there's a bell curve of personalities in the world. Try not to let it ruin your day 8-).
    – slm Mod
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 13:09
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    I'm curious: what does your rebellion involve?
    – muru
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:21
  • Just some crazy idea, also maybe do the oppisite of other rebellions instead of fighting, just bring back "peace and love" like when my parents where young. I'll bet that would make terdon really angry.
    – somethingSomething
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:26
  • Oy! I'm no hippie basher, I'm a deadhead for heaven's sake! :) Why would I be angered by "peace and love" o_O ?
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:30
  • @terdon heehehhe
    – somethingSomething
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:31
  • @muru I deleted the first comment didn't mean anything and I haven't slept for 24 hours, just drove home from summer-house with my mother. But the rebellions agenda is in above comment.
    – somethingSomething
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:50
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    @slm Also the thing was that I got overwhelmed by the downvotes and people almost banging me in the head with ssh-key-gestapo but the biggest factor/conclusion is that I admit to it being a-great-example of not-enough research before asking, but I'm not lying about reading somewhere of building an all questions/answers resource/database in here so I was not expecting the response I got. But to make it bad, it turns out it's a dupe....... well I think I go to sleep now. Thank's again slm/terdon I'm relatively new but this site means alot to me.... so I promise to be at my best as much as I can.
    – somethingSomething
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 15:36

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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First of all, mods can't see who voted on what. That is confidential and only available to SE employees. Also, since you mention it, what you did is a clear abuse of the flagging system. As you figured out, it doesn't work that way and please don't do it again.

Now, your question got 4 downvotes and 3 upvotes. That means a net reputation change of +7. Not really something to complain about. Especially since it was quite frankly a horrible question. 5 minutes of searching for "Linux switch user" would have given you the answer. Therefore, the question showed a clear lack of research which is one of the primary reasons for downvoting. It's even mentioned in the popup that appears when you hover over the down arrow.

Then, you ignored the previous answers that all told you to use su and instead posted your own answer repeating that information. You did this a week after the posted answers. Why? Why not accept one of the existing ones?

You also blatantly plagiarized the content of another site (grammatical mistakes and all) and, while you did give attribution, you did not put the text in a quote block. This gives the impression that those were your words and not that you had simply copy/pasted from someone else's work.

Finally, this is not really important but you also used code blocks for emphasis, a practice that is frowned upon and which actually makes your post harder to read. On some sites (SO, for example) that in itself would be enough to get some excessively zealous people to downvote.

Even if all this were not the case, complaining about downvotes is pointless. We have no way of knowing who downvoted or why. Complaining about a single downvote (which is all your answer received) on a post that has given you a net reputation gain of 15-2-8=+51 is kind of strange, really. Downvotes happen, they often happen for completely random reasons. In this particular case, I am honestly surprised you didn't get more. There is rarely, if ever, any point in complaining about them unless you are getting very many. In that case, there are automated scripts that can detect targeted voting and the votes are usually reversed.

So, in conclusion, you have gained 7 reputation points from a question with 0 research and an answer that is simply copied from somewhere else and repeats the same information already given to you by others. So yes, bite the bullet and let it be and be thankful you didn't get more downvotes than you did.

13 upvotes=+15, 1 downvote on the answer=-2, 4 downvotes on the question=-8

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  • Just to make clear I never intended to give the impression that that information where my words/know-how, and the reason why I have my own answer is because of if I remember the upvotes came after the downvotes + people either commenting or including in the answer that I shouldn't log in as root to ssh. I didn't want to accept an answer with all that hype about key's. And as the response was negative I investigated it my self as you rightfully point out(lack of research) although sometimes I think about the words in here about this becoming an database/resource with anwers to.....
    – somethingSomething
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:07
  • specific problems and if that could be useful in here even though many others have posted on other sites. Thank you for answering my outburst of unseen magnitude of anger and frustration. I'll go back now and edit the answer as it seems to others that I am taking credit for the information.
    – somethingSomething
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:09
  • Also at some time I had one of those answers you mention accepted but wanted to give a more thorough answer.
    – somethingSomething
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:14
  • @muru indeed it doesn't sorry, fixed.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:24
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    @somethingSomething I am absolutely certain you never wanted to present someone else's work as your own. You've been active here for quite a while and have always been an exemplary user. I know you didn't mean to, I'm just saying you did so, quite probably inadvertently. That's why it's important to use quote blocks on quoted text. The security warnings were 100% true and valid, don't ignore them, but anyway, you had three answers that didn't mention the security issues, you could have accepted any one of them.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:28
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    @somethingSomething As for being a wiki-style resource, well yes, but not of everything. We expect users to search and try before asking. You could have at least searched through the site itself, as you see I have now closed it as a duplicate. I can understand wanting to give a more thorough answer, that is indeed sometimes a good reason to write your own. Just next time, make it clear that your quotes are quotes :)
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:29
  • Thanks.............
    – somethingSomething
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:30

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