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I asked a question on Friday which sounded totally different than the after a 'suggested' edit has been made to it.

It was a very simple question (in terms of complexity): are two things the same or are they not? I provided two links to each of the comparable examples (strictly supportive reference). I suspected that if anybody is going to answer this question they would have been familiar with .Value = .Value and Evaluate function.

I think my question (as I posted it originally) included all context to be a valid question. I didn't think my question was poor in any way. The provided links have samples and explanation of both keywords used in the question. In my opinion somebody over-thought it or tried to make it too complicated with their editing.

After the edit, yes, the question became really poor and I always try to avoid asking one sentence long questions. With no links or other references.

I am trying to understand the negative 6 votes, but I can't. If I came across a question like that I would definitely upvote it as stood but I guess my opinion in this case is totally different than the community's. How do I overcome this?

Update:
Thanks for all your comments and opinions. Again, I have learnt more about how SO works and how other people interpret my questions. I have edited my original question and hopefully made it clearer with the added context. I have sent a vote to reopen the question. Good day everyone

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    If the edited question is not what you wanted to ask, roll back the edit. (p.s. no need for the big "Question:" in your question, nor for the VBA button) – Bart Jul 22 '13 at 7:28
  • That's a rather radical edit for someone who's just "guessing" what the question is. – slhck Jul 22 '13 at 7:29
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    The question is not showing any research effort. This alone makes it off topic for Stack Overflow. The closing and downvotes are 100% justified in my opinion. – Shadow Wizard is Vaccinating Jul 22 '13 at 7:31
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    As an aside, please note that paragraphs and line break are very different things. Please use paragraphs for text (empty line). – Arjan Jul 22 '13 at 7:35
  • provided links each show examples of both the .Value = .Value and Evaluate() - how's that not a research? I don't get it. If I was able to research it more than I already have then I wouldn't be asking that question. – user221081 Jul 22 '13 at 7:38
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    You found two other questions and linked them without explaining why they were relevant. Do you expect people to read the others questions you linked in your question? If so, then repeat what they say -- show the effort. And formatting VBA using <kbd> really is useless? – Arjan Jul 22 '13 at 7:41
  • @Arjan <kbd> is the new bold... I stopped fighting it a while ago. :-( – Shadow Wizard is Vaccinating Jul 22 '13 at 7:45
  • I thought inline code blocks were the new bold? I'm never giving up the fight against those! Fight the power! – Cody Gray Jul 22 '13 at 7:46
  • Inline code blocks is so 2012. – J. Steen Jul 22 '13 at 7:53
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    Looking better now, voted to reopen. As for downvotes you can just hope those who downvoted will come back to check. – Shadow Wizard is Vaccinating Jul 22 '13 at 8:44
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    @Cody honestly I think it's related to the user country. Worth doing some research if someone have spare time, lol! – Shadow Wizard is Vaccinating Jul 22 '13 at 8:45
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I asked a question on Friday which sounded totally different than the after a 'suggested' edit has been made to it.

You're right, the edit does appear to have changed the meaning of your question. We allow posts to be collaboratively edited because, overall, it improves the quality of the site. But there's always a risk of something going wrong.

The editor even expresses her reservations in the edit comment, so it wasn't malicious. She was just trying to help improve your question and make it more clear what you were asking, thus making it more likely to receive answers.

Fortunately, we have a system in place to take care of bad edits. It's called rollback, but instead of lowering prices, it reverts back to a previous revision.

     

After the edit, yes, the question became really poor and I always try to avoid asking one sentence long questions.

I'm a little confused here… Even if we agree that the edit was poor because it changed the meaning of your question, your original question was still really poor. In fact, it violated your own stated guidelines: it was only a single sentence long!

I am trying to understand the negative 6 votes, but I cant. If I came across a question like that I would definitely upvote it as stood but I guess my opinion in this case is totally different than the community. How do I overcome this?

Cupcake's comment is a good hint: you need to add some context to your questions, explaining the problem that you're trying to solve, what you've already tried, and why it didn't work.

Links don't actually explain things, that's why you're supposed to summarize the contents of the link in your own post. Why should we have to read through two other questions and answers just to be able to understand what you're asking in your own question? Good questions are self-contained.

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I suspected that if anybody is going to answer this question they would already have been familiar with .Value = .Value and Evaluate function.

And by that logic, you greatly reduce the amount of people willing to answer your question. Oneliners are bad questions. They don't explain context (what are you trying to do, why do you think your solution is the best way for that) so anyone who wants to answer it must a) recognize from your code what you are trying to do and b) remember what that code does in order to answer your question.

If you start with "I want to make sure a cell always contains an updated value" (i.e. explaining the problem you're trying to solve) and then explain both options you found and what differences you saw between using .Value = .Value and Evaluate(), you give the question somewhat more body, inviting people to read and answer it.

That being said, the edit to your question was grossly inappropriate.

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    @mehow There are many cases in which it's perfectly clear to you, as the asker, what the context is. But don't forget that more often than not, others are not in your situation. They might want to know what you're trying to accomplish, in order to give you better solutions. Experience has shown that questions with better context get better answers. Plus, your question will become easier to find for others with the same problem when they search for it online. – slhck Jul 22 '13 at 7:34
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    The down- and close votes have nothing to do with understanding. A good question explains the actual problem, you just ask whether two pieces of code do the same (and just that, without any explanation of what you are trying to do), something you can either find out by reading the documentation or by executing the code. Questions are not just for the asker, and in order for it to be useful to the community, more context and input from you is required. – CodeCaster Jul 22 '13 at 7:35

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