Similar to the new @user feature, I am interested in a feature wherein if I preface a comment to one of my own posts with "@Downvoters", a notification would be sent to all users that downvoted that post.
This is similar to this previous request.
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53@Downvoter: Please explain! Thanks.– jasonCommented Jan 27, 2010 at 0:13
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18Downvotes on meta just indicate disagreement with the feature-request, unlike SO– waiwai933Commented Jan 27, 2010 at 2:33
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66I didn't do anything– juanCommented Feb 4, 2010 at 20:06
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41^ my nickname at that moment was "Downvoter"– juanCommented Dec 16, 2010 at 18:31
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13@Juan: but it's actually funnier now that your nick has changed.– ЯegDwightCommented May 18, 2011 at 11:34
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15I think this would only get abused by users who don't 'get it' anyway and start to cry wolf, rather than reflect what might be wrong with their own post– Ivo FlipseCommented May 18, 2011 at 11:59
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@Ivo I think mostly "existing users" will be aware of this feature. (New users are still getting used to everything.) Maybe trigger this feature only if no one has left a comment so far?– Mateen UlhaqCommented May 18, 2011 at 16:16
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2Some kind of notification when something you've voted on is changed may be a good idea, but putting it in the hands of someone who was downvoted sounds like trouble.– codewaggleCommented Jun 14, 2012 at 4:27
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8Can I have a @DidntReadTheFAQ ?– Chris GerkenCommented Dec 9, 2012 at 21:15
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6If downvoters wanted to discuss the matter, they would leave comments, answers, or attempt to correct the deficiencies. If they don't want to, there is no point in bothering them with notifications.– Jonathan SengCommented Jun 19, 2013 at 22:31
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8 Answers
I've thought more about this, and frankly... I don't like the idea of leaving a comment for down-voters at all, with or without notification. Down-voting isn't supposed to open a dialog - new users are encouraged to comment when down-voting, but it's not mandatory - and if they don't feel the need, that's just fine.
Furthermore, I've seen too many instances where a "Why the downvote?" comment poisons further discussion, turning comments into a debate over whether the vote was merited - this is noise, as comments are supposed to be relevant to the content of the post itself. In most cases - and especially when comments have already been posted prior to the request - I flag or delete these downvoter-addressed comments.
It's easy to feel frustrated, when you put substantial effort into a post only to see it down-voted without explanation. But this is an attitude that must be discouraged rather than justified. Remember: voting is primarily a means of communicating with other readers and with the system itself; comments should be reserved for providing auxiliary information, suggestions, and constructive criticism to the author. They're two separate mediums, and need to stay that way.
Now, if you notice your post being down-voted and honestly want advice on improving it - regardless of whether or not that advice comes from the same users who down-voted it - by all means, ask for suggestions! Just stay focused on the content, not the voting or other users:
Good
Can anyone suggest improvements or corrections to this?
Bad
@Downvoter, please leave a comment. Rawr!
Stupid anonymous down-voting cowards!
Why the downvotes???
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29I don't think so. I think the extra prompt of the comment showing in their inbox will occasionally spur action. And if not, well, it still provides a communication channel. Commented May 18, 2011 at 11:27
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@TJCrowder: actually, I've changed my mind on this. Please see my edit.– Shog9Commented May 18, 2011 at 15:49
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3I think your old post was better. Many times, I've responded to a poster who asked why they got downvotes, even though I didn't downvote, with a suggestion that helped them fix or otherwise change their post for the better.– NicoleCommented May 18, 2011 at 16:00
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2@NickC: and this feature would do nothing for that, since you didn't down-vote. I've edited again though to clarify: asking for suggestions for improvement is admirable - it's demanding an explanation from specific user(s) I see as harmful.– Shog9Commented May 18, 2011 at 16:10
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I don't support this feature either - I just liked your original advice about leaving a comment (with no notification) asking for help. I strongly agree with your second edit.– NicoleCommented May 18, 2011 at 16:24
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5I like your addition; Asking for comments on down votes tends not to be all that fruitful (even - or especially - if you get replies!), but if you are going to do so, do it in a way that will encourage people to respond constructively! +1 Commented Jan 3, 2012 at 18:54
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1"encouraged to comment when down-voting" IMO downvoters should somehow be more than encouraged to specify why. Either downvoter don't say a word, or he does and the quality of the material here improves. I think this site is great but I'd brainstorm how to achieve this to make this community more welcoming (especially for newcomers). Maybe downvoters would get additional points removed from reputation, *unless they mention why. It sounds pretty good to me.. hope it will become a reality one day. Commented Feb 20, 2013 at 23:34
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13For me the best use case for this is
@downvoter I believe I have improved the quality of my qeustion please have another look. An alternative is to notify somehow all the voters on a post(question or answer) when it is edited, but I believe the feature requested here is more reasonable. Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 9:17 -
3Because in my experience, @Jonathan, that is often an incorrect assumption. But by all means, if you think someone would benefit from criticism, give it to them - just leave voting out of it.– Shog9Commented Jun 20, 2013 at 2:11
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2I think you're misunderstanding the purpose of voting, @Jonathan– Shog9Commented Jun 20, 2013 at 3:25
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1The purpose of voting is to manage visibility. From the about page, "Good answers are voted up and rise to the top." The converse is that bad is voted to the bottom to decrease visibility. When you vote something down without comment, you do not provide avenue to improve -- which is bad. Should the question or answer be improved to no longer warrant a down vote, failing to remove a down vote becomes a completely inappropriate distraction to the visibility. As such, the system fails. @Shog9 Please explain the misunderstanding. Commented Jun 20, 2013 at 4:34
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3The visibility changes based on voting regardless of whether or not the author is receptive to criticism, @Jonathan. Constructive feedback that results in improvement is a very nice bonus, but voting functions with or without it.– Shog9Commented Jun 20, 2013 at 7:01
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1That is how it works now. And that is the problem: improving questions and answers is a "a very nice bonus." The goal of the stackoverflow is questions and answers. The question is whether they are supposed to be good or not. If the goal is good, then you don't want improvement as a bonus, you want it as a standard. Commented Jun 20, 2013 at 14:05
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10You can't force someone to improve their post, @Jonathan. You can encourage them to - but often there's already a better post, and getting into it with someone who half-assed it vs. just de-ranking their halfassery so readers can focus on the good stuff is a much more productive use of your time.– Shog9Commented Jan 19, 2014 at 23:23
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1I disagree. I think that anonymous chat with a downvoter would be perfect. I had many times being downvoted accidentally or by mistake, and quick respond in comments about reason to downvote resolved the problem, but people quickly go out of page so @downvoter would be a nice feature– VMAtmCommented Apr 14, 2017 at 3:51
What if my username is Downvoter?
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12The only case where this leads to ambiguity is if user Downvoter has commented on the post and user X where X != Downvoter has downvoted the post. Then a comment by the OP prefaced with "@Downvoter" is ambiguous between being a reply to the comment from Downvoter or a comment to the downvote from X. I don't see this being a hindrance.– jasonCommented Jan 27, 2010 at 0:13
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4@Juan Manuel: Look, there is nothing magical about the string "@Downvoter." It could be "@MagicalStringThatIsNotCurrentlyAUsernameAndIsForeverBlockedFromBeingAUserName." You could even append "AndNotifiesDownvotersOnTheCurrentPost" if you'd like.– jasonCommented Jan 27, 2010 at 1:30
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57If your username is Downvoter, change it - you have a weird username. Commented Jan 27, 2010 at 4:46
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12@Jason - I'd totally vote for this feature if users had to type that entire string in just to annoy the people who downvoted them. Commented Feb 4, 2010 at 20:31
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2@dow - ok, so we'll also need to add a bit of javascript so the typing would have to occur at a reasonable 'human' speed. Then it would at least limit automation to those who understand browser scripting... Commented Feb 4, 2010 at 20:47
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13How many irrelevant comment notifications do you get in a day?– user138231Commented Feb 4, 2010 at 20:52
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@Bal: not as much as Kyle Cronin♦ meta.stackoverflow.com/posts/28884/revisions– perbertCommented Feb 4, 2010 at 22:10
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1Good thing your name isn't Downvoters... I think we dodged a bullet on this one! @Downvoters sounds better anyways.– SensefulCommented May 16, 2010 at 3:30
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Or feature for do not allow naming user name as downvoters. Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 9:31
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1Lol, I found a couple of users named "downvoter" meta.stackexchange.com/users/164011/downvoter meta.stackexchange.com/users/310573/downvoter Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 14:34
I wouldn't mind too much, as long as the identities are still kept secret, as I see the use for good this could have.
But I see a much bigger problem for heavy downvoters (of which some argue there are not enough), who might be constantly anoyed by the notifications.
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21I think the problem with heavy notifications can easily be handled by a user option "Ignore downvote notifications 'cause I'm a grouch!"– SamCommented Jan 27, 2010 at 5:38
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11@Sam: may be it should prompt you after checking with a pop up asking
Are you a grouch? [Yes] [No]– perbertCommented Feb 4, 2010 at 22:11 -
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I am interested in a feature...
How would this improve Stack Overflow questions and answers?
As far as I can tell, all it will do is provide a communication path for people to complain.
- What good purpose does it serve
- What do you expect the outcome to be (both positive and negative)
- What evidence do you have that the purpose will be served, and the outcome will be more positive than negative
Personally, I believe people worry too much about downvotes. Yes, it would be nice to know why, but what would that accomplish, other than starting many arguments that won't actually result in a better question or answer?
answered Feb 4, 2010 at 20:30
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4I'd upvote you if I hadn't given up voting on answers because of the electorate badge– juanCommented Feb 4, 2010 at 20:39
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5I feel it would be more than a just complaining. If you've been downvoted, and you make edits to improve your post, then the downvote that applied to the previous, poor post shouldn't necessarily apply anymore - it would be good to provide a mechanism by which those who downvoted before could reevaluate the post to see if that vote is still warranted.– corsiKaCommented Aug 1, 2011 at 18:08
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6If downvotes cannot lead to better questions or answers, what good purpose do they serve to slashdot? From [/about], "This site is all about getting answers. It's not a discussion forum. There's no chit-chat." If it takes discussion to get a question or answer right, then we have a place for it. But, downvotes (without comment) are not constructive to getting answers. Rather the opposite, they lower interest both in improving the post and reading the post. That is counter to getting answers. Commented Jun 20, 2013 at 2:07
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3Old is old, but gain is obvious: many people downvote and don't leave comments; people asking the question not only feel mocked(am I downvoted because I'm new?) but also it leaves no room for improvement at all. I guess that most people write question so that they get answers - so they are asking the best they can. If we leave no room for textual feedback, numbers won't help. I think it's too easy to downvote. Commented Nov 24, 2015 at 11:59
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This feature enables the OP to spam down voters... for what purpose?
- To drag them into an argument? No thanks.
- To rant at them? So we can then waste our time flagging the comment for being non-constructive?
- To notify them that the post has been edited, so would they now please reconsider their downvote? The important action here is the edit, not the desire of the poster to send a message.
My emotional response is that I'd want this feature, but having thought about it and read the arguments, I'm against it.
A large part of the success of SO is the emotional investment that gets users hooked and comes from the game-like aspects of the site, such as votes and reputation. This can lead users to forget the real point of the site in their quest for increasing their feeling of peer approval (not necessarily rep), and in turn leads to emotional outbursts when they receive negative feedback. I suspect most "Downvoter, please explain" comments are of that emotional nature (I've certainly done it and nothing good has ever come of it), it's not generally helpful and shouldn't be encouraged.
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12A downvote without a comment is not negative feedback. It's not feedback at all. It just says, "there's something about this answer that makes me want to downvote", but doesn't say what that was. Commented May 19, 2011 at 17:44
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@JohnSaunders: Were you making a semantic point about what constitutes "feedback"? I'd say that a downvote definitely qualifies.– Tim DownCommented Apr 28, 2014 at 22:57
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1You are correct. I do not call a downvote with no comment "feedback". It doesn't help. Commented Apr 28, 2014 at 23:04
Definitely in support of this. I keep having this same idea, and today I thought: I'll just check to see if someone's suggested it yet. And you had.
Other than the effort required to implement it, the only real downside is that downvoters have to deal with the notifications. I think if you downvote without comment, dealing with the odd "@downvoter" comment in your inbox is not a problem.
Also recommend "@closevoter" for people who've voted to close questions. Easily 95% of the time, people vote to close questions correctly and there's an obvious reason why. The other 5%, though, it'd be good to be able to ask them why.
answered May 18, 2011 at 11:26
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9Tons of people downvote without comment - they upvote a comment that explains why they're downvoting, and that's perfectly reasonable. Commented May 18, 2011 at 11:32
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2@Super Long: Agreed, that's totally reasonable. And I very rarely see plaintive "@downvoter" comments in that case, because the comment being upvoted has answered the question "why?". The case I see is more frequently the lone downvoter, no comment. That's when I see (and sometimes write) @downvoter comments. Commented May 18, 2011 at 11:34
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1@T.J. Crowder - Why? It's 2 rep. You're almost guaranteed to get it back, given how often people sympathy upvote. If there's some huge hole in your knowledge, the downvoter will probably be a more experienced user, and will tend to leave a comment explaining what you did wrong. It's not likely that one downvote on a decent answer indicates any error on your part, nor is @downvoter-ing likely to teach you anything. Commented May 18, 2011 at 11:40
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5@Super Long: I'm not bothered by the rep (as you say, participate at all and you're going to totally wash out the odd downvote). I want to know what the issue is (and not just on my own questions/answers, but on other peoples' as well). Sometimes I've gotten a reply with the @downvoter comments, and sometimes it's been useful. Now if those people hadn't happened to come back, they wouldn't have seen it. I also think petty retaliatory downvoters (we all know it happens) should know that they may be able to remain anonymous, but they're going to hear from the person they're downvoting. Commented May 18, 2011 at 11:53
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2Willing to accept the first part, but disagree with the sentiment in: "I also think petty retaliatory downvoters (we all know it happens) should know that they may be able to remain anonymous, but they're going to hear from the person they're downvoting." I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but if someone's that petty, I doubt @downvoter comments will phase them. In fact, I fear that those same people, when downvoted, will put @downvoter comments to good (ab)use. Commented May 18, 2011 at 12:03
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@Super Long: Could be. :-) I expect it varies by the individual. I'm not worried about them abusing the @downvoter thing, though. The people I'm talking about get told why they're being downvoted. :-) Commented May 18, 2011 at 12:12
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1@T.J. - That's true, but I still disagree. It seems (in my view) that very little will really change with the addition of @downvoter comments. There's a (rather small) potential for it to improve the system, and a(n equally small) potential for it to be abused. Commented May 18, 2011 at 12:16
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3I hope you will also support
@upvoterto tell those who upvote crap what kind of idiots they are. And@reopeneras well as@undeleterfor similar purposes. Commented Feb 20, 2015 at 1:08 -
1@Deduplicator: Heh, sure -- after all, none of them is going to happen. :-) (And yeah, as crazy as some downvoting is, there's really crazy upvoting as well...) Commented Feb 20, 2015 at 7:58
I believe we really need this feature. Downvoting a question costs no reputation and I think users tend to loose track of those, yet the feature may be useful for answers too. For me the best usage of this feature should be @downvoter I believe I have improved the quality of my question, please have another look. I also think that @downvoter please explain why the downvote is a useful comment though most users tend to disagree.
answered Mar 27, 2013 at 9:14
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@Shog9 there will always be the option to flag the comment appropriately. Now the comments can generate almost as much noise. For me what matters is the positive effect this feature would have. Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 9:42
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Pay attention to how many of those posts had been edited, and how many are just authors complaining that someone downvoted.– Shog9Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 10:30
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5-1: For supporting the feature. I really don't agree with Shog9 that comments about downvotes constitute noise. But I also don't want people to be able to ping my inbox just because I decided to add a downvote. A comment about a downvote is an invitation; pinging someone inbox because of a downvote is harassment. Downvoting without comment is a right; it means "this is crap and I don't care to explain why." You don't have the right to track me down and ask me why I did it. You can ask publicly, and maybe someone who cares can point out what's wrong. Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 11:44
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1@NicolBolas I disagree. Downvotes without comment is not always a right. Downvoter could err or see outdated post. Answer's author could miss something or completely don't understand how could he improve the answer and what's really wrong with it. Ability to receive (at)downvoter notifications should be configurable. That's really a great idea. I'm waiting for this feature for a long time, came here to suggest of support it, but it's still not there, alas. Commented Jun 23, 2014 at 8:04