1

I expect people to put some effort in their questions. This IMHO also means basic formatting of the text.

Sometimes I see questions without any punctuation or capital letters. My general reaction is a downvote (with a comment why), because it does show a lack putting some effort in a call for help.

I'm not talking about grammar mistakes by non native English speakers, but style stuff which is in all languages the same (AFAIK).

Is this the correct way to handle it or should I refrain from downvoting? What does the community think about this?

Improve this question
8
  • 1
    Sometimes, I would edit such question. I don't downvote the question, unless it is totally crap.
    – nhahtdh
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 9:11
  • 3
    The system agrees with you (in part): non-capitalised i's (apart from in code) are considered in the metrics for post quality.
    – Benjol
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 9:30
  • 2
    A (somewhat old) but similar discussion: Should others downvote my posts for “grammatical” reasons?
    – Josh Darnell
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 12:39
  • 3
    FWIW, when I see a question littered with the lower-case i, I just edit it. I don't consider this a part of down-vote consideration; it's not the type of laziness that makes a question "bad" and it's not always laziness anyway. I will down-vote the question if it exhibits other criteria but those are judged separately IMHO.
    – Aaron Bertrand Staff
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 13:15
  • Do whatever makes you feel better.
    – Engineer2021
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 14:30
  • @0A0D For the better of the community that's not something I want to do ;-)
    – PeeHaa
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 14:54
  • The impact you have will be such a small percentage, that it's not too much of a ripple.
    – Engineer2021
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 14:56
  • @0A0D Never ever underestimate a ripple in space and time!!!111
    – PeeHaa
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 15:13

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
10

I wouldn't downvote just for lack of capitalization. However, I will certainly downvote if the post is not clear.

As a general rule, I don't see a lot of posts where capitalization is the only issue. Most of the truly problem posts have capitalization problems, syntax problems, formatting problems, and conceptual problems all rolled together.

If you can clean it up, please do. Whether or not it deserves a downvote will depend on context, and is really a judgment call. Don't be afraid to downvote a post that seems lazily written--downvotes are an important feedback mechanism, after all--but don't use downvotes as a grammar lesson, either.

Improve this answer
16

I'd not downvote such questions; it's the content that matters, even if the packaging is a little shabby.

Besides, languages using pictographic, ideographic or logographic writing systems don't use capitalisation, so perhaps people posting without capital letters are not native English speakers but Japanese, Korean or Chinese.

Why not edit such (otherwise worthy) questions and help the OP with a comment?

Improve this answer
7
  • 6
    +1 . Additionally, editing can help you towards your copy editor badge.
    – Rory Alsop
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 9:24
  • 7
    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.
    – Jon Skeet
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 10:32
  • 2
    @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.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 10:34
  • 5
    @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.
    – Jon Skeet
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 10:37
  • 1
    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.
    – CodeGnome
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 11:59
  • 1
    @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... :-)
    – Aaron Bertrand Staff
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 13:04
  • 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.
    – Eli Sander
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 13:42
3

I personally think that formatting is a bigger issue than capitilization and punctuation. Some posts are perfectly acceptible but really hard to read because of arbitrary code blocks, links, and walls of text.

My philosophy: If you like having warm fuzzy feelings in your heart, rather edit than downvote.

Improve this answer
-1

How will we ever get those editing badges otherwise?

because it does show a lack putting some effort in a call for help

If a question is so badly formatted that you can't understand it, I believe there is a "poor/low quality" flag you can use.

But for minor spelling or grammar errors, I give the OP the benefit of the doubt and do the edits to make it clear.

Now if the question itself is vague, overly broad, that's a different story...

Improve this answer
6
  • 1
    I already have all the editing badges ;)
    – PeeHaa
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 13:38
  • 1
    @PeeHaa ALL of them? So now that you're done editing, all you want to do is downvote? :)
    – JimmyPena
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 13:49
  • Yup. I never edit questions any more since I got the badges only downvotes... ;-)
    – PeeHaa
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 14:23
  • @PeeHaa You should reconsider. Clearly you know what you are doing so Stack Overflow would benefit from your editing skills.
    – JimmyPena
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 14:27
  • stackoverflow.com/users/508666/… :-)
    – PeeHaa
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 14:43
  • @PeeHaa I thought you never edit anymore. :)
    – JimmyPena
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 14:45

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .