Timeline for Should one downvote for capitalization and punctuation problems in questions?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
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| Jul 9, 2012 at 13:42 | comment | added | Eli Sander | If the grammar/spelling/capitalization/formatting is so poor that it makes the question more difficult to answer, I can understand downvoting. But I would also edit it, and I would definitely not downvote a question with only minor grammatical issues. | |
| Jul 9, 2012 at 13:04 | comment | added | Aaron Bertrand Staff | @JonSkeet I agree that presentation matters, but if you had a typo in an otherwise useful answer I hope there isn't anyone reading this question that would down-vote you. Although I don't know if the SE network allows anyone to down-vote you anyway... :-) | |
| Jul 9, 2012 at 11:59 | comment | added | CodeGnome | Stack Overflow is not a help desk, it's an information repository. Posts which aren't clear need to be fixed or tagged as such by the community. | |
| Jul 9, 2012 at 10:37 | comment | added | Jon Skeet | @MartijnPieters: I would be surprised if people who have English as a second (or third) language aren't aware of capitalization. I realise it means they need to put in more effort than others - but fundamentally, one person putting in the time scales better than everyone seeing a poorly written question... especially when presumably that person is going to benefit from answers. I'm not looking for perfection, but some indication of effort would be nice. | |
| Jul 9, 2012 at 10:34 | comment | added | Martijn Pieters | @JonSkeet: Yup, but the assumption that someone didn't put in effort to a question because capitalisation is missing does not hold, in my opinion; I don't think that incomplete command of the English language should be held against a poster as strictly as some people seem to do. | |
| Jul 9, 2012 at 10:32 | comment | added | Jon Skeet | I used to think that content was all that mattered. Now I'm more interested in the information transfer - we need all the information to be present, and conveyed as well as possible. Answers are judged partly on how well they convey the information - why shouldn't questions be judged similarly? I'm only disagreeing with your first sentence, by the way - I wouldn't downvote, and editing is obviously helpful... but I do think that presentation matters. Aside from anything else, I think it's a sign of respect for the people who will read what you write. | |
| Jul 9, 2012 at 9:25 | history | edited | Martijn Pieters | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 9, 2012 at 9:24 | comment | added | Rory Alsop | +1 . Additionally, editing can help you towards your copy editor badge. | |
| Jul 9, 2012 at 9:16 | history | answered | Martijn Pieters | CC BY-SA 3.0 |