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I am not sure if this comment about a suggestion on stackoverflow should be written here, but I do think so.

I would recommend, if this is possible, when downvoting a question, to be mandatory for the downvoter, to write the reason why he/she downvoted. I think this should be much more helpful for the OP to understand better what he did wrong, in order to fix it, if he does not want to get more downvotes. Downvoting itself, does not help the OP much, nor the people that might have a similar programming problem.

Please write what do you think guys. I know that most of you will disagree with me, but I find that giving feedback when downvoting is more useful for all of us.

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  • 1
    possible duplicate of Encouraging people to explain downvotes or must comment while downvoting (and many others).
    – user213963
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:01
  • @jonsca Firstly, I don't get the I think irony of your comment. Secondly, nice picture of a spiking neuron
    – John Smith
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:01
  • @JohnSmith I think that comment is highlighting a core issue with this idea. People down-vote for all kinds of stupid reasons, including perhaps their mood or the weather.
    – Duncan Jones
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:03
  • Thank you! :) But you see the point, even if you could mandate it, you would guarantee a lot of noise being generated in the process.
    – jonsca
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:03
  • @Stijn Are you serious?
    – John Smith
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:03
  • Down-votes cost the voter 1 point of reputation so if that price is worth it to them then they perform a down-vote
    – MonkeyZeus
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:03
  • Maybe there should be an incentive, after down-voting tell the voter that if they leave a comment then they can downvote again
    – MonkeyZeus
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:04
  • @user2191572 That is also a duplicate. Many variations of this feature have been proposed.
    – Servy
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:05
  • @user2191572 Only on answers.
    – ʞunɥdɐpɐɥd
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:05
  • @Duncan thanks a lot. Yes, that's one not good reason for someone to downvote someone else, and that's one of the reasons that this think might prevent
    – John Smith
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:07
  • @Servy I figured there is, I just wanted a good chuckle =)
    – MonkeyZeus
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:07
  • It is not duplicate guys.! I think that I have done my research better than the people that marked my question as duplicate. The question mentioned above, says to encourage comments on ANSWERS. I say mandatory comments when voting down a QUESTION
    – John Smith
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:09
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    @JohnSmith And the problems with the feature request apply to both, making it an appropriate dup target. Also, re-reading that question, it seems to be discussing both, not just answers.
    – Servy
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:10
  • @user2191572 Thanks a lot!!! Yes, I find that really great and helpful! Nothing to lose here. However, as I got from the way people answered me, and the downvotes I got, the community will probably disagree with this as well
    – John Smith
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:21
  • @user2191572 Where your comment gone?
    – John Smith
    Jan 8, 2014 at 16:22

1 Answer 1

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First, we believe in anonymous voting here on Stack Exchange so revealing the voters identity by leaving a comment would go against that.

Now, when you downvote a post it goes without saying that it would be good if you were to leave a comment to explain what is wrong with the post but it should never be mandatory.

Now something has been implemented where, if you have less than 2000 reputation, when you downvote, you will be encouraged by a little popup to leave a comment explaining why you think the post deserves a downvote.

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