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Preface: this answer is from the point of view of one veteran Stack Overflow user.

Preface: this answer is from the point of view of one veteran Stack Overflow user.

1. Reviewers are encouraged to downvote, flag, and close, and optionally leave a comment...instead of leaving a comment, and optionally downvoting, flagging, and closing. There are some veteran users who would rather use a softer hand towards new users, and give them benefit of the doubt, by engaging with them a little before scaring them away with close and downvotes:

   Other close reasons (e.g. unclear what you ask, too broad) should not be instant in my opinion, better leave a comment first asking for details or asking to improve quality, and only after a while vote to close, if the OP can't be bothered.

   So as written, the reviewer advice basically says to go right ahead and immediately fire off close and downvotes, even without a comment as to how the post can be improved.

   Which brings me to the next problem...

2. Many veteran users still won't leave a comment. For many reasons,

   • Comments take too much time to type.
   • Reviewers want to avoid getting into conflicts with the users they're close/downvoting.
   • Etc?

   This doesn't really improve the perceived friendliness and helpfulness of the site for new users, who may have just gotten off on the wrong foot.

1. Reviewers are encouraged to downvote, flag, and close, and optionally leave a comment...instead of leaving a comment, and optionally downvoting, flagging, and closing. There are some veteran users who would rather use a softer hand towards new users, and give them benefit of the doubt, by engaging with them a little before scaring them away with close and downvotes:

   Other close reasons (e.g. unclear what you ask, too broad) should not be instant in my opinion, better leave a comment first asking for details or asking to improve quality, and only after a while vote to close, if the OP can't be bothered.

   So as written, the reviewer advice basically says to go right ahead and immediately fire off close and downvotes, even without a comment as to how the post can be improved.

   Which brings me to the next problem...

2. Many veteran users still won't leave a comment. For many reasons,

   • Comments take too much time to type.
   • Reviewers want to avoid getting into conflicts with the users they're close/downvoting.
   • Etc?

   This doesn't really improve the perceived friendliness and helpfulness of the site for new users, who may have just gotten off on the wrong foot.

1. Reviewers are encouraged to downvote, flag, and close, and optionally leave a comment...instead of leaving a comment, and optionally downvoting, flagging, and closing. There are some veteran users who would rather use a softer hand towards new users, and give them benefit of the doubt, by engaging with them a little before scaring them away with close and downvotes:

   Other close reasons (e.g. unclear what you ask, too broad) should not be instant in my opinion, better leave a comment first asking for details or asking to improve quality, and only after a while vote to close, if the OP can't be bothered.

   So as written, the reviewer advice basically says to go right ahead and immediately fire off close and downvotes, even without a comment as to how the post can be improved.

   Which brings me to the next problem...

2. Many veteran users still won't leave a comment. For many reasons,

   • Comments take too much time to type.
   • Reviewers want to avoid getting into conflicts with the users they're close/downvoting.
   • Etc?

   This doesn't really improve the perceived friendliness and helpfulness of the site for new users, who may have just gotten off on the wrong foot.

1. Reviewers are encouraged to downvote, flag, and close, and optionally leave a comment...instead of leaving a comment, and optionally downvoting, flagging, and closing. There are some veteran users who would rather use a softer hand towards new users, and give them benefit of the doubt, by engaging with them a little before scaring them away with close and downvotes:

   Other close reasons (e.g. unclear what you ask, too broad) should not be instant in my opinion, better leave a comment first asking for details or asking to improve quality, and only after a while vote to close, if the OP can't be bothered.

   So as written, the reviewer advice basically says to go right ahead and immediately fire off close and downvotes, even without a comment as to how the post can be improved.

   Which brings me to the next problem...

2. Many veteran users still won't leave a comment. For many reasons,

   • Comments take too much time to type.
   • Reviewers want to avoid getting into conflicts with the users they're close/downvoting.
   • Etc?

   This doesn't really improve the perceived friendliness and helpfulness of the site for new users, who may have just gotten off on the wrong foot.