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I haven't posted many questions on Stack Overflow, because I really like to search thoroughly before asking a question.

Friday 15th of March I posted a question, of something I just couldn't find the answer for. It was downvoted that same day without explanation, and nobody has even made an attempt to answer it.

Before asking this question in meta stack overflow, I looked around, but I didn't find this information, so I will ask.

When you get downvoted, do the questions get less chances of being answered because they get lower priority?

If so (it seems to me it works that way), if the question was downvoted without any comment, and is a new user question, I think it would be useful maybe to have a special list for that? Or not to downgrade the chances the question gets answered.

This is my question: Using Custom RoutedUICommand in xaml throws exception

I don't think is a bad question, I wrote a lot of detail, because it is a strange case. And I can't solve it. I think it is something to do with how the framework works that I am not grasping, so I am asking to understand better. I really need this question answered, but now that is downvoted I don't see how this will happen.

Another thing is if you look at my profile, it says I got downvoted twice (-2), but the question just shows a -1. (Is this a bug? Should I post it in some other place?)

I know I am putting a lot of things here, please let me know how to change this question to make it more useful.

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    I only see you getting downvoted once in your profile. It's only one downvote, I wouldn't worry about it.
    – LittleBobbyTables - Au Revoir
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:10
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    A downvote costs you 2 reputation points; the -2 is one downvote.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:10
  • Oh, so one downvote is 2 reputation. Sorry, I didnt understand that. In a case like this, should I edit my question and delete the part I asked that to make it more clear? Or should I just let it be.
    – Dzyann
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:13
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    I cleaned up some formatting issues with your post and removed the surplus 'thank you' at the bottom. That'll have bumped the question to the homepage again for a little more attention.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:13
  • Thank you @MartijnPieters To do that with the Exceptin you just surrounded it with the code tag? I have the bad habit to say thank you when I ask something, will try to avoid that XD I realize it doesnt make that much sense in here.
    – Dzyann
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:21
  • Lots of detail != good quesiton. Often the best question contains only the detail required for an answer. Your question could be boiled down to two paragraphs, one for the xaml where you are using your command, and one for the exceptions you were hitting.
    – user1228
    Mar 18, 2013 at 16:59
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    @Won't My question, has a complex case. For the most part what I am trying to do is rather common, I even have made it work in other cases. Just with all those conditions I mentioned I get the errors. Which are 2 different errors depending on slight differences. I think is an error very hard to ping point, and that is why I offer the additional information.
    – Dzyann
    Mar 18, 2013 at 17:55

3 Answers 3

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There are two main drawbacks to being downvoted:

  1. Firstly, if your question receives enough votes (up or down) that your question score falls below -4 then it disappears off the front-page of questions, so people viewing the front-page of StackOverflow will not notice the question is available for answering. However, the question still appears if people filter by Tag or if they search for question text that is included in your question. Downvoted questions can still be answered, and if you edit the question following any advice left for you in comments (if people are kind enough to leave comments) then those downvotes can be un-downvoted by the person who downvoted you if they see that you have improved the question.

  2. The second drawback to being downvoted, at least on StackOverflow, is that with too many downvoted posts or posts of very low quality you risk running into the automatic question ban that could kick in, meaning you won't be able to ask any questions until you have improved your historic posts.

Of course there is also the loss of reputation, but I sense that you already know about this issue - (one downvote equates to -2 reputation).

However, if you only have one downvote here or there then they're not much you need to worry about. Just keep an eye on your questions in the 15 minutes following asking it and if it starts recieving some negative reactions then that's your best time to get in there and improve it before anything too bad happens.

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  • "Firstly, if your question is downvoted by more than [...]" That should be a net negative downvotes. You can be downvoted 10 times, but if you have 12 upvotes, you're fine.
    – Nicol Bolas
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:18
  • @NicolBolas: Fair point. Updated for clarity.
    – JonW
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:21
  • So when my question is downvoted just once it doesn't disappear from the main page of StackOverflow? It does have less priority than the ones with 0 votes no?
    – Dzyann
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:42
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    There is no such thing as priority, no. Questions are at the top of the list of questions on the front-page because they've had the most recent activity, regardless of the score they have.
    – JonW
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:43
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There is only 1 downvote for your question, but that downvote cost -2 reputation (that is the -2 that shows in your reputation tab, your questions tab show the number of downvotes: -1)

About the reason, it is good practice (for downvoters) to explain why they are downvoting (or, if someone else already wrote a comment, at least vote that comment in order to show support). Neither has happened in your case, which was unfortunate. That kind of things happen sometimes (and if the question was really good, luckily someone will upvote it later).

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  • I read many downvote posts here in Meta. I am a user that likes to investigate before posting. Sometimes I may miss something, but I at least try. So if i get downvoted like that, It just set me back. I am doing this for work, and we all have deadlines. I feel the downvote shouldn't have consequences if it doesnt have a comment. Because there is no way to fix what is wrong if they don't point it out. I mean if I had the downvote with a comment, I would have only asked the part about the reputation :P
    – Dzyann
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:24
  • I don't know XAML or WPF, but your question seems well written (at least, it doesn't smell like those questions from people commanding me to write their code, which have for certain my downvote and comment). BTW, I see that you are now +4/-1 (which translates to a net gain of 38 reputation) so I think that you have more than compensated your initial loss ;)
    – Javier
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:35
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    you are right! I didn't expect this outcome. I really don't mind being downvoted, just the lack of feedback and the fact that it gets harder that my question gest answered, it is troublesome. :)
    – Dzyann
    Mar 18, 2013 at 14:44
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The occasional downvote is just a "cost of doing business," especially if you ask or answer a lot of questions. On a site this size, somebody is bound to dislike something you write. If they're nice, they'll leave a comment to help you improve, but some people just downvote out of "pique." In many cases, you will have one or more upvotes to compensate for your downvote.

The time to get concerned is when there are a lot of downvotes (five or more), particularly with no offsetting upvotes. If a lot of people dislike a question, it's probably not out of pique, but rather because something is genuinely wrong.

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