Not doing that feels like deception. The downvotes on this comment are the reason I posted the thread. I don’t see why people should take me less seriously for being honest.
I wouldn’t have a problem with you citing it (and I do laud you for being honest) if you would put some effort to find some other posts that you think shouldn’t have been downvoted and were.
This is what I am getting at. I think it would be better to say “this is a misinterpretation because _” rather than downvoting it. I have been thinking about the issue we were talking about there over night and now that I come back to all the downvotes I’m embarrassed to discuss it further. I don’t want to talk about it with people who push me away.
I agree to a large degree, but would also like to raise the issue of new members/old members here—I think we, as a community should sparingly, if at all, vote down new members, and instead explain our reasoning to them. I know I was very intimidated when I finally stopped lurking, and the fear of beingdownvotedintooblivion was part of that, sometimes. Downvoting new members discourages their participation, and hinders our goals—it would be far more productive if we can politely and respectfully point out why we think they are wrong.
That being said, there are some users, obviously, who aren’t making a faithful attempt at rationality, and it’s entirely appropriate to downvote them to oblivion.
I wouldn’t have a problem with you citing it (and I do laud you for being honest) if you would put some effort to find some other posts that you think shouldn’t have been downvoted and were.
I agree to a large degree, but would also like to raise the issue of new members/old members here—I think we, as a community should sparingly, if at all, vote down new members, and instead explain our reasoning to them. I know I was very intimidated when I finally stopped lurking, and the fear of being downvoted into oblivion was part of that, sometimes. Downvoting new members discourages their participation, and hinders our goals—it would be far more productive if we can politely and respectfully point out why we think they are wrong.
That being said, there are some users, obviously, who aren’t making a faithful attempt at rationality, and it’s entirely appropriate to downvote them to oblivion.