Bad or down-voteable questions on Sci-Fi Stack and its consequences?

Question

This seems to be a big issue for people here when deciding what is good and what is not. From what I can gather this is what constitutes a bad or not very good question on this site.

1. A question with an answer that can be googled easily
2. A question that if you logically think about it is easily answerable
3. A question where the answer is obvious
4. A badly written question
5. A poor quality question that's content is vague
6. A question that does not seem to put much effort into

Those are what I have been told, if there are any more, feel free to inform me.

I would like to put forward a different point view on this matter.

1. A question with an answer that can be googled easily

Why is this a bad question? If the question has been asked on SFF and creates good answers, why is it inherently a bad or low quality question? Shouldn't the site be welcoming questions that have not been asked here, as it will inevitable attract more users when they Google for the same question. So I can't see this as reason for down voting.

2. A question that if you logically think about it is easily answerable

Again, if it has not been asked on this site before and it creates good answers, why is this a bad or low quality question?

3. A question where the answer is obvious

Again, if it has not been asked on this site before and it creates good answers, why is this a bad or low quality question? Just because the answer is obvious or easy why the down votes?

4. A badly written question

I agree that a terribly written question may be the subject of down votes, but suggestions in the comments could make it better, so before down voting should it not be better to give advice?

5. A poor quality question that's content is vague

I can't say much for something like this, not every question deserves up votes. But again, comments could help clarify in some cases.

6. A question that does not seem to put much effort into

Again, if it has not been asked on this site before and it creates good answers, why is this a bad or low quality question? Just because the question required little effort why the down votes?

My main issue is, "What constitutes a bad question?" and I can't think of an example where a question that has not been asked here before and creates good answers can be considered a bad question.

The way the system is geared right now is, it is easy to cast a down vote on a question as there is no rep change and the down vote for a question is the same value as an answer down vote even though an answer up vote is worth double the rep. Why is the system not equal? Allow same rep value for questions and require a loss of rep for a down vote?

And that is the biggest issue here on this site. This site is Sci-fi Stack Exchange, not Stack Overflow. I can honestly see someone getting help for a problem on Stack Overflow by asking a question, that will help them in their day to day lives or helping them financially in the future. But, com'on people, we are asking and answering question from a fantasy world, so where will any of this actually help us in day to day life. Why does the system have to be geared so much towards the answer?

And the last thing I want to say is, without questions, there are no answers, so I really do think it is a case of putting the horse before the cart on a site where we are all just having some fun.

• I am asking to put up the value of a questions up vote to equal an answers.
• To lose rep when down voting a question like with an answer

Answers to this question should cover all the points I have put forth. And show a real reason as to why my last two feature requests would affect this site detrimentally.

I posted a question to prove my point. How did Thanos travel from place to place?. See the comments for context.

Answer 1

A long time ago, both of the things you are asking for used to happen. Question upvotes were worth 10 reputation points, and downvoting a question cost you reputation.

The first was changed to emphasize the fact that good answers take more effort than good questions, so they deserve (and require) a bigger reward to encourage people to post them. You can see the meta discussion here and the announcement here.

The second was changed because people were not downvoting question enough, and downvotes on questions is the only way we as a community have to indicate to other users what we consider quality or lack-of quality in questions. Answers, in general, get tons of voting activity already, but questions generally do not, so the "free" downvote is another incentive to use your votes. You can see the discussion and announcement here.

As far as your list of reasons why a question is "bad", there's no point going through it point by point because it's irrelevant. Questions are bad because I think they're bad, that's why it's my downvote. I can use it for any reason, whether it's on your list or not. But I am also just one voter, and a downvote is worth less than 1/2 an upvote, so if I'm in the minority, my one downvote will be meaningless in the overall score.

Of course, if the person posting the question is capable of taking constructive criticism in the comments section (as is its purpose), and acting on advice, and changing their question-asking behavior to suit, then they will naturally stop asking questions that I find bad, and I will stop downvoting them, so the system just works out.

Answer 2

I think what the question, and TLC's answer leave out, is that downvotes are not permanent.

Downvote indicates that in its current version, the question has a problem (or people just don't like​ it but that's another matter). Once the post has been edited, the downvote can be reversed if the problem is gone. I'll agree that not everyone can be arsed to check back whether stuff they downvoted got edited, but that's how the system is intended to be (at least, that's how I see it).

I know this isn't exactly what you wanted as an answer (Answers to this question should cover all the points I have put forth. And show a real reason as to why my last two feature requests would affect this site detrimentally) but editing stuff, rearranging votes with each version and all is really a good feature of SE, so I felt like the clarification shouldn't be buried in comments. TLC covered the bullet points, and as for the FR being detrimental there are a couple answers on main Meta.

Answer 3

The simple answer is just because a question gets a good answer doesn't change the fact that the question is "bad". It's worth noting that what makes a question bad is inherently subjective and so different people have different criteria when casting downvotes. Though as long as votes aren't used for bad things, i.e. vote rings/targeted votes/etc, people can use them as they wish.

So to address the possible downvote reasons:

1. A question with an answer that can be googled easily

The downvote tooltip explicitly states "This question does not show any research effort".

2. A question that if you logically think about it is easily answerable

This one I don't really agree with as a reason to downvote but I can see why some people would think this way and that's because the answer is obvious to some.

3. A question where the answer is obvious

This sort of routes back to number 1, it is likely very easily googleable or even mentioned in a quote around what the questioner is asking about.

4. A badly written question

A badly written question could come to the point where it is close worthy. You say comments could help clarify this and yes they could, so could edits, but not everyone has the time or effort to do this.

5. A poor quality question that's content is vague

This is more worthy of a close vote for "Unclear what you're asking" but it can surely get both if someone thinks as much.

6. A question that does not seem to put much effort into

This is a mix of numbers 1 and 5 so look there.

The way the system is geared right now is, it is easy to cast a down vote on a question as there is no rep change and the down vote for a question is the same value as an answer down vote even though an answer up vote is worth double the rep. Why is the system not equal? Allow same rep value for questions and require a loss of rep for a down vote?

Because a downvote on a question and answer are not equal. Votes on questions are usually "I find this interesting/useful" or "nice question" etc. On answers they are more This is correct/incorrect.

Why does the system have to be geared so much towards the answer?

Because the system is about finding answers to questions not finding questions. As for the point about SO vs SFF, this is the same platform so of course things work the same.

And the last thing I want to say is, without questions, there are no answers, so I really do think it is a case of putting the horse before the cart on a site where we are all just having some fun.

Correct, but a bad question is a bad question we shouldn't be voting just for the sake of it.