Why do people "Vote Down" correct answers in the Q&A Section?

1. 68

   rLcasaLmeposted 12 years ago

   I've seen answers and mostly were really the best possible answer to that particular question. The answer actually makes others redundant or of lesser value.
   
   So, why do these answers get a vote down?

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      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I guess its from the other hubbers who thing their answers are right. Not sure though.

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      Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, definitely.  I've seen my own answers voted down.  I assume it's either by angry political types or some religious person I "offended" by being an atheist.  And no, these weren't religious or political questions, more like "When did you first get paid" (which in my case was in 2003 for Adsense and only after almost 18 months from HPADS here).  You could understand not voting it up, but voting it down?  Has to be just general nastiness.
      
      OOps, no it wasn't that one but something like it..
      
      I'm quite sure they do the same thing to hubs, though we can't see it there.

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         Druid Dudeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I don't take an interest in Q&A voting. The only incorrect answers are the ones that aren't offered.

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      2. 61

         FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I have seen nearly  all my answers to questions I actually posted myself voted down at least once. Bizarre. The only time I vote down an answer is when the answer  is obviously derogatory to the person who posted the question or towards one of the other people answering.  you can identify them by the person telling someone that they are paranoid, stupid, etc.
         I don't vote things down because I disagree with them. I just ignore it. If this were a case like WebAnswers where the person answering the questions got money based upon how they were rated I would bother voting things up or down. But since it is not, I only vote things down that are derogatory.

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            relacheposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Actually that's not bizarre because you aren't supposed to be answering your own questions.  If you knew the answer to your own question, and wanted to have a discussion, you should be posting in the forums.

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            1. 61

               FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               okay. That clears up something that was confusing me. Now I understand.
               
               As to when I have answeedr my own questions:
               When I answered my own questions it was simply to respond to another person's answer that already existed.  Like when Writeronline  suggested he was stupid or shallow  to worry about his score reaching 100 , I told him not to call himself stupid or shallow. Or when Pollyannalana told me I thought that someone was after me I responded to her answer.
               
               But since I am not supposed to respond to my own questions, it stands to reason that it doesn't matter what I say in my answer as it would then get voted down. I could give a wonderful response and it would still be voted down.
               
               Thanks.  I'll keep that in mind. If I need to respond to someone's answer I will try to find a different way.

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                  FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  I should add of course that under the circumstances there was no way I would contact said person who was abusive. Pointless.

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  This is a good example of how the Questions/Answers section just causes confusion.  It was originally meant as a place to ask questions because you wanted someone to write a Hub in reply. It was meant as a place you could go for ideas to write about. Now it's just a second forum.

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                     FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     So far no one has written a hub in reply to any of my questions, just answers - even if the responses were long enough to create their own hubs, or just needed maybe 100 words more.  Thinking about this as someone who only joined seven months ago-likely *long* after this change happened - I think the staff should change the way you can respond to questions. It should be made so that no one can respond in any way except as a hub.

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                     Uninvited Writerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     And now I see when people attach a hub to the answer they get down votes because people don't understand how it works.

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2. 77

   Uninvited Writerposted 12 years ago

   Yes, like the one where someone voted down all the correct answers about how HP Ads pay. Or the one where someone asked for peoples opinion on Tilapia fish and everyone who said they liked it received a down vote.
   
   It is very silly and petty, sometimes it seems to be based on the person who gave the answer by someone who has a bug about this person

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   1. 68

      rLcasaLmeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Oh my! He must have hated the person to vote it down. I can actually see this voting down to a particular person. Do you find the same?

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   2. 68

      rLcasaLmeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I also want to apologize Susan if at one time I was somehow sounded offensive. Sorry about that.

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      Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      @UW, I saw that too and I have been wondering the same thing with my answers too. I have noticed at times that nearly all the answers to a question might be voted down except for one or two. It doesn't make sense.

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3. 77

   Uninvited Writerposted 12 years ago

   Don't worry about it, I didn't take offence.

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      rLcasaLmeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Glad to hear that.

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4. 86

   WryLiltposted 12 years ago

   I don't mind what people do to answers because answering questions doesn't make me money or make me lose money.

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5. 69

   shimmering Dawnposted 12 years ago

   They do what they can... because they have the power to do so
   The answer section is always a silly place!

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6. 74

   sweetzaraposted 12 years ago

   Maybe they vote it down because even though the answer is correct, it is not one that they agree with.

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7. 97

   PaulGoodman67posted 12 years ago

   If I vote, it is for the answer that I "like" best.

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8. 68

   relacheposted 12 years ago

   The answer section vote buttons should be labelled "agree" and "disagree" as that would more accurately reflect the action people take when they vote on replies.

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   1. 68

      rLcasaLmeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      i agree to that.
      I just can't understand why would a correct answer be voted down. An answer they like can be voted up, and an inappropriate or wrong answer can be voted down. But a correct answer? voting it down? I just don't get it.

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      brittanytoddposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That's a good suggestion, relache.  I have had many answers voted down when they were completely accurate or opinionated (like who are my favorite poets).  I think it is so silly that people abuse those buttons and if they read differently, maybe the red arrow would make more sense to others.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Amen.

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9. 76

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years ago

   I dunno, but when I see a stupid question asked, and then every dissenting answer voted down....I pretty much know that the poster asked did it, and I then choose to "unfollow" them if applicable, and ignore them from then on.
   
   Case in point - the fellow who make the absurd and totally fail embracing question /claim that "why do people waste time protesting, it doesn't do any good."
   
   All aboard the fail boat!
   

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      WryLiltposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yep, we shouldn't have tried to protest SOPA/PIPA.

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         Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Exactly.
         
         I should have used that example there...but it would have gotten down voted as well.

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            WryLiltposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            

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10. 61

    FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years ago

    I've seen this happen with my answers to questions, especially when they involve, like Susan says, a preference for something. I remember the first time I noticed this, I was answering a question about favourite horror actors. I chose actors from the studio system era and mentioned that I seemed to be the first person to mention classic actors. People likely define classic actor quite differently and some people probably have never seen Boris Karloff and Vincent Price so...got voted down.

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11. 77

    psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

    I vote down stuff I don't like.  [shrug]

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12. 89

    Millionaire Tipsposted 12 years ago

    The purpose of the voting in the answers section is to identify whether the answer is actually attempts to answer the question.  But many times people vote it down if they do not agree with the answer.  Maybe they feel that if they vote others down, then theirs will rise to the top as the best answer, even though a best answer is not required here.

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    1. 61

       FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       You mean the responses where someone trail off into unrelated subjects? Yes, I've seen those kind of responses too.

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13. 90

    Cardisaposted 12 years ago

    I personally believe that not only do people vote down answers, spitefully or by being just petty, they vote down other people's hubs too, even when those hub are useful, well written hubs. That's my honest opinion and that's not fair that people have that sort of power to do such things to other people.
    
    The voting down of the answers don't bother me much as I've noticed that majority of my answers in the last month have been voted down, but I am upset that people get the chance to vindictively vote down your hub too.

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    1. 84

       Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I honestly don't know why they still have those silly voting buttons.  HP confirmed long ago that voting up or down has very little effect on your HubScore and it certainly doesn't affect anything else. So they're pretty much just there for show.

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       1. 90

          Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I think a hub or article should stand on it's own merit especially since they say our hubs belong to our domain. If I had my own website then why would I have vote buttons on my articles? It doesn't make sense since the domain switch.

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14. 61

    FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years ago

    If a person is consistently voting down hubs of a particular person, that person's URL can be traced back to the person through HP and that person can receive a backlash via the staff. It will show up on hubber score banning  etc. In my own interests to avoid certain people, I stopped using  the hub hopper so that I would never have to read the person even by accident. You can also block the person from showing up on your home page.

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    1. 90

       Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I didn't know that. Thanks.
       
       I just believed that people are doing petty things here. Like the voting down of the answers, that so childish.

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          FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          You're welcome. That said, I am sure there are plenty of petty people who have nothing better to do with their time. Those of us who do have other things to do, just bypass said people and get on with the day.

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             Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Yeah, I think those voting down the answers think that having their answer on top does something for their hubberscore or maybe gets them accolades.

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       Uninvited Writerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       We are talking about the answers not hubs.

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          Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I did mention the hubs as my own opinion that's all but Flora mentioned that HP would have done something about it. No more about the hubs now.

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          FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          yes, I was just responding to Cardisa. My mistake for posting it as if it were a separate answer to the original thread, rather than as a response to her comment. My fault.

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15. 61

    FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years ago

    oh, Marisa: I just thought of something else - Is our participation in the Q&A forums as a responder (I don't think that is an actual word) indeed part of our overall user score as a lot of people think? maybe that is where the change began?

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       Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Good point..
       
       I dislike the whole Answer section for so many reasons.

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       Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Well, they're not "Q&A forums" - just goes to show the impression they create, when you use the word forum for them, even though you know better! 
       
       If you're active on the site, that improves your score - but there isn't a quota for forums, a quota for Q&A, a quota for comments etc.  It's just activity generally.  I ignore the Q&A most of the time but it doesn't seem to hurt my score

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          FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          oops! I used that word automatically without thinking.

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       Becky Katzposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Flora, when I answer a question, it will take my hubscore up a few points. I believe that means that yes, it affects your hubscore.

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