Hot answers tagged

37 votes
Accepted

Is code golf going to be opting into the voting reputation requirement test?

No Code Golf participating would provide minimal useful information for Stack Exchange given our unique format, and it would solve a problem we really don't have (insufficient voting/interaction). In ...
Rydwolf Programs's user avatar
32 votes

Offering a bounty in exchange for upvotes

This is not allowed. I've removed the offer. Stack Exchange works by ensuring that the best information rises to the top. Thus, the motivation for upvoting a post needs to be anchored in the merits ...
Dennis's user avatar
  • 210k
23 votes
Accepted

Why are all the answers here being downvoted?

I am the person who downvoted. I am not afraid "to come forward", as many have speculated. I don't believe that I have done anything wrong, and I am rather certain I have not broken any rules. So ...
Wheat Wizard's user avatar
  • 96.5k
22 votes
Accepted

Don't downvote off topic posts into oblivion

posts that are unintentionally against our on-topic guidelines have no reason to be downvoted. This is false; posts with a score of -4 or lower do not appear on the front page. Making low quality ...
Dennis's user avatar
  • 210k
20 votes

On downvoting questions of users not in the know

The tooltip for the downvote button says This question does not show any research effort; it is unclear or not useful. It is an excellent description of the question you link. Does not show any ...
Peter Taylor's user avatar
  • 43.1k
19 votes

Why are some users so quick to jump on a bandwagon?

Conservation of nitpicking I want to give a pragmatic answer on the need for nitpicking. By nitpicks, I mean tedious-seeming inquiries on minor points like "Can the list be empty?" or "...
xnor's user avatar
  • 144k
17 votes

Incentives for answering old questions

Run a monthly contest We have an annual contest which attracts quite a bit of attention to the winners inherently, and a bit more because it uses bounties for prizes. It's too process-heavy to run ...
Peter Taylor's user avatar
  • 43.1k
17 votes

Newbie question about voting

Voting while participating As it's a contest it doesn't make sense to vote for other answers - does it? It is a contest, but I like to think of it as a challenge. And everyone participates ...
Stewie Griffin's user avatar
17 votes

On downvoting questions of users not in the know

If the challenge is a homework question in disguise, or otherwise looks like an attempt to get this community to do someone else's work for them, then I would downvote it. I would certainly not direct ...
Rainbolt's user avatar
  • 6,376
14 votes

How did I lose 5 reputation on an answer?

A quick glance at your reputation history reveals that your answer was unaccepted (-15) and got an upvote (+10). The sum is the -5 you saw in the notification area.
Dennis's user avatar
  • 210k
14 votes

Newbie question about voting

Do not vote for code length! Code length is not a good way to determine what to vote for, because it isn't a good indicator of quality. A golflang submission can be thoroughly uninteresting and still ...
Esolanging Fruit's user avatar
14 votes

Should I upvote an answer based on how much it was improved?

No one can tell you how to vote Voting is a very subjective thing. Some people are liberal, others not so much. Ultimately, you should upvote or downvote an answer (or question) if you think it's ...
caird coinheringaahin g's user avatar
12 votes

Incentives for answering old questions

Clarify how to handle changing standards Visibility and incentives aside, answering old questions is awkward because of changing site standards. I've given up on submissions I started to write ...
xnor's user avatar
  • 144k
11 votes

Should I upvote an answer based on how much it was improved?

I think the direct answer ought to be 'NO: you should not upvote an answer based on whether it was improved.' If this was common practice, it could encourage answerers to deliberately submit ...
Dominic van Essen's user avatar
10 votes

Why are all the answers here being downvoted?

You shouldn't use moderator flags for this purpose -- I don't know what you expect me to do. Information about individual votes is private, even for moderators. Presumably whoever cast these votes is ...
Doorknob's user avatar
  • 71.4k
10 votes
Accepted

2 downvotes + 1 upvote = 1 more reputation

Reddit karma is +1/-1. Why should SE rep be +10/-2? In short, the voting and reputation structure are optimized for a Q/A site rather than a system that ranks popular opinions. There is asymmetry in ...
lirtosiast's user avatar
  • 21.4k
10 votes

Is it permitted to upvote only to test submissions?

Absolutely not In general Targeted upvoting – i.e., upvoting because of the poster instead of the post itself – is forbidden on the entire network and can have unpleasant consequences both for the ...
Dennis's user avatar
  • 210k
9 votes
Accepted

Downvoting Questions on Hold

Voting and closing serve two separate purposes, so doing both can send two separate signals. The purpose of a (challenge) downvote, as per the tooltip that appears when you hover over it, is: This ...
Doorknob's user avatar
  • 71.4k
9 votes

Newer users can't view vote counts, therefore cannot view current site consensus

Converting my deleted comment into an answer for more visibility While this is a popular idea (and something I personally support), changing this isn't going to happen, but there is an easy way around ...
caird coinheringaahin g's user avatar
9 votes

An experiment into the FGITW phenomenon

These are some very interesting and, unfortunately, not-too-surprising results. I do think the FGITW phenomenon is quite disappointing and discouraging for what I'd say are higher quality and higher ...
hyper-neutrino's user avatar
  • 41.3k
8 votes
Accepted

Free privileges with "Graduation Userscript"

Vote breakdowns are trivially exposed to userscripts (you can even get them from Stack Exchange Data Explorer) but without such a script you're limited by privilege reputation thresholds. You don't ...
Alex A.'s user avatar
  • 24.6k
8 votes
Accepted

Can deleted answers be down-voted?

No If a user that can see deleted posts tries to downvote one, they will get the message: This post has been deleted; deleted posts can't be voted on However, due to a known bug horrible design ...
DJMcMayhem's user avatar
  • 58.9k
7 votes

Why are some users so quick to jump on a bandwagon?

I can only speak to the nitpicking point since I haven't seen any examples of the first point that I can remember. About this second point I have two things to say: Nitpicking First off nit picking ...
Wheat Wizard's user avatar
  • 96.5k
6 votes

Why are some users so quick to jump on a bandwagon?

Why do users nitpick questions? Because it makes the challenges better (and hence, more fun for everyone), and evens the playing field. I'm bringing this specific example up because I spent two hours ...
Steve Bennett's user avatar
5 votes

Why are some users so quick to jump on a bandwagon?

I can't comment on the "bandwagon", as doing so would include making assumptions about people's motivations for voting, while these cannot easily be determined. Regarding nitpicking, note ...
Adám's user avatar
  • 29.9k
5 votes
Accepted

Do you gain reputation from upvotes from the meta site

No. I've upvoted your question for you to verify this. From the What is "meta"? How does it work? page: Votes on meta do not affect your reputation; your meta reputation is the same as your ...
Adám's user avatar
  • 29.9k
4 votes

How do we score colors in Desmos?

Setting the color is not part of the language As defined here, there is no way to encode the color. This means that the color of the graph is not part of the language, similar to how setting the ...
Nathan Merrill's user avatar

Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible