Timeline for Negative up-vote/down-vote ratio: is it effective mentoring, or too harsh?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 2, 2017 at 11:16 | comment | added | Peter Mortensen | Related: Encouraging people to explain downvotes (cross-site, the canonical) | |
| Feb 28, 2017 at 17:52 | comment | added | music2myear | This site spans a wide audience. In tech-support tiers it is 1st through 3rd, basically. There are plenty of people who should know better than to ask that question that way, but there is usually not a way to tell in their first question who they are, what level they are, what we should expect of them reasonably, and so we must assume everyone is a n00b on their first question. We can coach and then build expectations. Some of the "you've got 5 questions all closed for the same reason, what haven't you learned" takedowns are very necessary, but only after a bit of interaction has happened. | |
| Feb 28, 2017 at 2:19 | comment | added | Run5k | @Ramhound, even if we utilize your best-case-scenario stats, that still puts you at the far end of the scale when 86% of that list had a positive voting ratio. Again, why don't some of the other avid reviewers (like Fixer1234) have a negative voting ratio? Please don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for your expertise and overall contributions to Super User. But much like Music2myear, I am afraid that the negative perception that accompanies the "tough love" philosophy of Q&A feedback is destined to scare off some good people, and that is some very unfortunate collateral damage. | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 23:25 | comment | added | Run5k | @Ramhound, while clearing the review queue is admirable, I don't think the explanation is quite that simple. If it was, why aren't some of the other avid reviewers (like Fixer1234) anywhere near you in down-vote totals? And while your down-vote total represents over 40% of the grand-total from "the top 50," your corresponding up-vote total is only 5% of the group's cumulative total... a personal ratio of approximately 1-to-5. And as Journeyman Geek said, down-votes on deleted questions/answers don't persist on your activity stats. You don't think that is rather compelling food-for-thought? | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 23:09 | comment | added | Run5k | @Ramhound, as I said before, everyone would agree that your contributions to the Super User realm are a tremendous benefit to all of us! But please, take a closer look at the aforementioned statistics. I mentioned that the top 50 contributors from 2016 had amassed 75,346 down-votes during their Super User career. Have you stopped long enough to realize that you are personally responsible for over 41 percent of that total? | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 23:04 | comment | added | Run5k |
@Ramhound, thoroughly studying the Help Center guides, emulating the habits of the top Super User contributors, and yes, comments & down-votes were all contributing factors. However, several of those comments were rather cold and tactless. "Were the tough mentoring comments even helpful?" Yes, absolutely! But I am quite certain that the same message could be conveyed in a more positive, supporting manner. The copious down-votes & tough comment narratives could potentially discourage new and talented Super User community members from contributing even more in the future.
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| Feb 27, 2017 at 23:00 | comment | added | music2myear | All that said, I'm glad we've had this discussion. I don't think I could add anything more that would convince @Ramhound that my way is superior to theirs, and I am glad there are dedicated people like them (and not like them) who make this site what it is. A site run all by me wouldn't be nearly as successful as SU. | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 22:59 | comment | added | music2myear | @Ramhound, but if the user has no clue where to begin improving the question so it will get to the point where it will be reversed, how can they be expected to fix it? I assume the user doesn't know what's wrong with their question. It means more work for me, but hopefully they'll reach a point where they'll begin to see that themselves. | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 22:57 | comment | added | music2myear | @Ramhound, I respectfully disagree. First, your examples are both answers, to which different set of rules apply because answered claim to be operating from a position of knowledge, and these examples very much aren't. My main point is about new users and their questions. But, even then, the "driver" issue could be answered with "You have confused correlation with causation." This would be a succinct description of their error. The other one isn't bad advice, IF the issue were Windows remembering where on the screen a program was last open. | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 22:27 | comment | added | Run5k | @Ramhound, the expertise you contribute to the Super User community is a tremendous benefit to all of us. The time and effort that you have devoted to helping others on this site is extraordinary, and it certainly hasn't gone unnoticed... thank you! That being said, I completely agree with what Music2myear said within this answer. As a "newbie" myself five months ago, my own SU stay was almost very short-lived after several encounters with down-votes and/or some rather tough mentoring comments. I realize that each situation is unique, but yes, the numerous down-votes are rather harsh. | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 21:43 | comment | added | music2myear | There is always that risk, about feedback being poorly received. But if the user has not received ANY feedback except a nebulous and unspecific downvote or 10, what are they supposed to think? It's like the Hot or Cold game, but all they're hearing is "COLD!!!". At the very least the first down vote SHOULD have a comment attached, and then if you agree with the comment and the question has not been improved, THEN further down votes without further comments is perfectly acceptable. | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 21:41 | comment | added | music2myear | As a long-time user support professional, I see the same questions (and problems with them) here that I have for the past 15 years of my career. They have the same root issue: Most people operate out of a very different context than I do. They don't think in terms of a specific program so much as a task or process. They don't think to capture the error message because their tech guy always has the answer. At work I've actually just finished putting together a talk on how to ask a good question/submit a good ticket. I expect it to be one of the more popular topics when I give talks. | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 21:38 | comment | added | music2myear | Which is someplace I spend a good deal of time these days, and I feel the same question applies: If I don't have time to comment, why am I in the review queues? | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 21:36 | comment | added | Ramhound | "If I don't have the time to comment, why am I surfing bad questions?" - If you want to help the community, by working on the review queue, you have no choice in what you review. Whle I could skip those questions/answers, somebody has to review them, otherwise they never leave the queue. | |
| Feb 27, 2017 at 21:31 | history | answered | music2myear | CC BY-SA 3.0 |