i don't get it, why did i get -2 rep for this?
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11I find this question intriguingly self-fulfilling.– Rob HruskaCommented Feb 23, 2011 at 2:05
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2 Answers
Someone downvoted your answer because they thought it was not helpful or incorrect. Downvoting incurs a 2 point penalty to the poster and a 1 point penalty to the voter.
answered Feb 23, 2011 at 0:43
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Downvoting is dumb. Take ebay for example... You could leave positive/neutral/negative feedback for a seller after you've bought something. If you give negative feedback the seller could retaliate and leave negative feedback for you (even though you may have been a perfect buyer) Because the seller doesn't like looking bad he tries to discredit you or is just an a-hole. This happened to my countless times on ebay and it can ruin your buyer rating. ebay has sinced removed this feature.You can apply the same retaliation tactic with Downvoting if it's obvious who downvoted you. Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 0:56
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16@rushonerok Which is why you can't find out who downvoted you. Downvoting is how we push bad answers to the bottom. Don't worry, everyone gets downvoted from time to time, and if anyone tries to target someone else, the system will detect it and wipe all the votes. Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 0:58
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6Downvoting is great, as is giving negative feedback on ebay if you're been ripped off. It helps weed out low-quality content. (That is not to say you were justly downvoted - I can't judge that, and it doesn't look like it. But I disagree with your general sentiment.)– PekkaCommented Feb 23, 2011 at 1:19
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Interestingly @rushonerok you can't give negative ratings as a seller any more on Ebay Germany, probably for exactly the reasons you name. I thought that was a new feature first implemented in the US - is that not the case?– PekkaCommented Feb 23, 2011 at 1:20
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1@rush: Pekka is half-right; you can't give negative ratings as a seller anywhere on eBay anymore. So the only thing that's dumb is your analogy; eBay obviously realized that retaliation was hurting the objectivity of the system and thus took retaliation out of the equation. Now most sellers leave feedback as soon as you pay, and the buyer is entirely free to leave whatever feedback he pleases, whenever he pleases. SO/SE mostly solves the same problem via anonymity.– AarobotCommented Feb 23, 2011 at 2:40
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2@Rush - If you're worried about that then don't brag to people about your -1ing them. That's the only way they'll find out.– anonCommented Feb 23, 2011 at 3:01
Your answer was probably downvoted because it simply says "do this" without providing any explanation or context. Even if it did help the original author solve his problem (as evidenced by the accept), it is really not going to be very helpful to the typical Google visitor.
In the future, I suggest putting a little more detail into your answers - i.e., explain where that exception is to be thrown and why. Your comment reply (on your own answer) explains some of this; that information should have gone in the answer itself.
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1Some of us have jobs. We come here to find solutions, and while waiting we offer a little help here and there. We are not all Nobel authors, and we just post what works for us. We don't have the weeks required to explain all of what makes the quick technique work. I think it is harming to the SO system when people get nigged for not being 100% generous or for thinking outside of the box. Just my opinion, though.– jp2codeCommented May 11, 2012 at 19:24
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I stopped reading after "some of us have jobs". I work about 60-70 hours a week including FTE and contracts. If you're trying to imply that your time is more valuable than mine, or anyone else's here, you've failed.– AarobotCommented May 11, 2012 at 22:33