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I recently reviewed this question: https://superuser.com/review/first-questions/1255359, and my thought process was:

This question needs some more information. I'll say that it's ok and later on I'll add a comment explaining which more information is needed.

The problem is, the question was an audit test, so I'm dealing with an audit failure :-(. It was then when I realised something: the person asking that question has a reputation score equal to one.

I have the firm impression that the last years, StackExchange forums have become very harsh against new people: regularly I see new people being harassed for asking a simple question, as if StackExchange fora are just meant for the high-rep longterm users.

The simple fact that a question like "I have a problem. Please help!" becomes an audit test is just a simple example of this harsh mentality. Therefore I'd like to ask a bit more friendliness for (mostly new) people.

I would hereby launch the request never to turn a question of a new user into an audit test!

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    Nope. That question was pretty far from "Looks OK" and was a good audit IMO. You could have commented that more information was needed, downvoted, voted to close, flagged or done anything but click "Looks OK". This is one audit that you legitimately failed.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:39
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    Just read my comments on your colleague's answer (especially my third comment) and you'll see my point :-)
    – Dominique
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:41
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    If that's how you're using the review queues then you're shooting yourself in the foot without even paying attention. It sounds to me like you're basically robo reviewing and coming back after the fact to say "whoopsie, I should have done something". Pay attention the first time you see it and take action then, don't leave it for later.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:44
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    @Mokubai: we're getting off track here: my feature request is not to turn new users' questions into audit tests, because new users generally don't have the experience of asking good questions.
    – Dominique
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:48
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    I disagree, they're exactly the kind of questions you want as reviews exactly because their quality is highly variable. They are the perfect source of reviews, as shown in this case.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:50
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    Let's agree to disagree. :-)
    – Dominique
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:51
  • Plenty of new users ask good questions, that are excellent audit questions, and low quality questions make splendid audit questions because far to many users think low quality questions are helpful and don’t downvote them
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jul 3 at 3:48
  • You have 5 questions on SU Meta and 4 of them are about audit tests. Maybe start by reading how review queues are supposed to be managed, especially the First Questions queue.
    – Engineer Toast
    Commented Jul 3 at 13:40
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    @Dominique - hey, I've taken a stab at rewriting your question with the additional information you shared in various comments, I hope that's ok. If not, please feel free to edit it further, or even rollback if it's not needed :)
    – Robotnik
    Commented Jul 3 at 23:47
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    @Robotnik: I only have one problem with your action: as it's my own question, I can't upvote it :-) Thanks a lot.
    – Dominique
    Commented Jul 4 at 6:25

2 Answers 2

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It is a terrible question - it isn't ok. The course of action preferred would have been to comment asking for extra information

I was using after effects and my pc suddenly turned off it's a brand new pc .. monitor's light is visible but cpu not responding please help 😭 please

There's nowhere enough information to begin to troubleshoot. Is it a desktop or a laptop? If its a desktop, a model and other information is useful. As a brand new PC its under warranty so the correct course of action might be to use that.

If it wasn't, as someone who has no physical access to the system in question, what would you ask? Does it beep? Are there any warning lights on the motherboard and so on.

As an audit - that question clearly isn't ok, and is a bare step above those where you get random giberish included somewhere in a post, and you're not expected to say it looks ok.

That's a very rough question and I feel like the audit here worked as intended.

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  • This is where I disagree with a major part of the longterm StackExchange users and moderators: when a person asks a very general question (typically out of panic) I tend to ask some questions (like the ones you mentioned: "Is it a desktop or a laptop? Please give some information about the model and/or operating system. ...". I admit, there are many people asking questions like "I have a question and I'm to lazy even to open Google, so you StackExchange guys just do my homework!", so I try to distinguish panic and lazy questions (although this is not always easy).
    – Dominique
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:23
  • I have the firm impression that the last years, StackExchange forums have become very harsh against new people: regularly I see new people being harassed for asking a simple question, as if StackExchange fora are just meant for the high-rep longterm users. The simple fact that a question like "I have a problem. Please help!" becomes an audit test is just a simple example of this en-harsh-ing mentality. Therefore I'd like to ask a bit more friendliness against (mostly new) people, e.g. making sure that typical beginners questions (her reputation equals 1 (!!!)) cannot become audit tests!
    – Dominique
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:29
  • The share feedback option might be more appropriate?
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:30
  • Thats to say, if someone dosen't know how to swim, do you throw them into the water, or make sure they don't drown first?
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:31
  • The "share feedback" option is indeed appropriate for this case, but you know how it goes: "This question needs some more information. I'll say that it's ok and later on I'll add a comment explaining which more information is needed.", that's a typical way I deal with such situations, but obviously when the question already turned into an audit test, I'm dealing with an audit failure :-(
    – Dominique
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:37
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    See, part of the problem is, you're trying to use 'ok' as 'skip' - which would not be an audit failure either
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:59
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    @Dominique "Therefore I'd like to ask a bit more friendliness against (mostly new) people" -- this is fine and laudable; "e.g. making sure that typical beginners questions (her reputation equals 1 (!!!)) cannot become audit tests!" -- this is entirely orthogonal (irrelevant) to the statement that precedes it. Audits have nothing to do with how friendly people are, nor long term attitudes. They are to detect careless/robo reviews. Instead, change your approach; it would be very backward to change the design of the audit system to accommodate one user who says they "go back afterwards"
    – bertieb
    Commented Jul 1 at 16:23
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Your suggestion would make the First Questions review queue nigh-on pointless

I would hereby launch the request never to turn a question of a new user into an audit test!

Your audit came from the 'First Questions' review queue.

From the info:

The purpose of this queue is to give special attention to posts submitted by new users whose questions are more likely to need improvement.

This should clue you in to review carefully.

The help text for Looks OK says:

Choose Looks OK if the post is fine as-is.

The other answer by Geek explains why this post is not 'fine as-is'.

Since it's their first question, the user will likely have a reputation of 1. Removing all such questions as audits would mean the review queue would have either no audits or nothing to review.

What can I do instead?

First, (re-)read the help page on the First Questions review queue.

Given your other questions on audits, I suggest you reflect on your practices when reviewing and be prepared to change them instead of insisting the system accommodate you.

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