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In the interest of being nice to new players...

On the FAQ page for Meta only, since it's bit of a different beast than the others, the verbiage talking about downvotes:

If you post something that's off topic or incorrect, it will be voted down: you lose 2 reputation points.

Should include a quick blurb about getting downvoted for people not agreeing with the question / suggestion / proposal / ...

Something like.

If you post something that's off topic, incorrect, or that those in the community generally disagree with, it will be voted down: you lose 2 reputation points.

Before you flame me, consider: This should help to curb "WTF, why did this get downvoted" comment wars thus reducing the load on the site.

Ok, now you can flame me.

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    FLAME!!!!!! – jjnguy Aug 18 '09 at 20:53
  • Why do you assume you will be flamed? – jjnguy Aug 18 '09 at 20:55
  • Call it a hunch :) – squillman Aug 18 '09 at 20:57
  • Ok, it's a hunch. – mmyers Aug 18 '09 at 20:58
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    Something of a tangent, but I hate the word verbage. – gnostradamus Aug 18 '09 at 20:59
  • I hate vegetables too! – jjnguy Aug 18 '09 at 21:00
  • How about "blurbage"? – squillman Aug 18 '09 at 21:00
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    I hate verbage too. Especially when it's made into sauerkraut. ...Wait, what's verbage? – mmyers Aug 18 '09 at 21:01
  • I hate the word "tangent". Reminds me far too much of "tangerine" – TheTXI Aug 18 '09 at 21:01
  • Wording – jjnguy Aug 18 '09 at 21:01
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    It's just so close to the correct word "verbiage" that I can't tell if people are purposefully using the slang form or they actually think "verbage" is correct. – gnostradamus Aug 18 '09 at 21:02
  • I hate the word "Wording" – squillman Aug 18 '09 at 21:03
  • I hate [Something Everyone Loves]!! I'm so wacky!! – jjnguy Aug 18 '09 at 21:04
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    @gnovice: verbiage, touche. Fixed. – squillman Aug 18 '09 at 21:04
  • @squillman: Kudos! My OCD thanks you. – gnostradamus Aug 18 '09 at 21:05
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Still woefully inaccurate. Should be:

If you post something that's off topic, incorrect, or that those in the community generally disagree with, or at least someone in the community disagrees with, or just doesn't like your phrasing or is having a bad day, or thinks you're getting uppity, or mis-clicks while trying to capture the permalink... it will be voted down: you lose 2 reputation points.

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List of downvote reasons on Meta:

  • Suggestion is deemed stupid/waste of time/unnecessary
  • Response is incorrect
  • Just because
  • Trying to stir things up
  • Off Topic
  • Someone Disagrees
  • Someone Else Downvoted
  • Voter is having a bad day
  • Miss-Click
  • Helping their post sort to the top
  • Put the author in their place
  • You don't like a particular user
  • Author's Gravatar is ugly/looks like a Vampire
  • Someone thinks it's opposite day. (Brad Gilbert)
  • Voter's monitor is upside-down (essentially mmyers)
  • Put voters rep on a cool number (1337, 666, 42, 10,000)

<Work in progress>

In other words, downvotes in meta are not something to get your undies in a bunch about.

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  • ... Someone thinks it's opposite day. ... – Brad Gilbert Aug 18 '09 at 21:28
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Nothing will curb the "WTF, why did this get downvoted" comments.

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    Ok, granted. At least, then, we could justifiably holler at people for not RTFM. – squillman Aug 18 '09 at 21:00
  • Downvoted to see if I could get a reaction. Failed. Removed downvote. (See, there's another point to add to the description: "or if someone is trying to stir things up a little") – mmyers Aug 18 '09 at 21:02
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    I have never RTFM here. No need, the users here are really helpful. – jjnguy Aug 18 '09 at 21:03

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