Seems like you and me are using different StackOverflows. I don't see the community "dumping on" questions that "aren't puzzling to an expert". Questions where the greatest puzzle is what the author is actually asking, however, or the "do me homework for me" kind, however... well, that's a different story. Your observation on the comments being "nothing but trash can fire half the time", can be reconciled with my own experience of SO only by introducing the auxiliary theorem: "the Python community is waaay more vicious than the JS community".
As for downvoting - it isn't free (at least on the answers). When I downvote your answer, we both lose rep points. That mechanism in itself discourages downvoting on a whim. I don't get downvotes often, but when I do, it's a rare occurence when I have reasons to think "It's a perfectly valid solution and someone's being a jerk".
Upvoting of the "elite" and downvoting of the "peons" even if their answers are correct? Again, not my observation. I see, however, technically correct answers with negative votes when they're third or fifth copy of the same exact solution. If you're about to post an answer to a question that already has one, yours should bring something original - otherwise, what's the point?
Many a time I saw someone post exactly what I was about to post (and what I'd even started typing) - a little frustrating, yes, but the reasonable thing to do was to click on "Discard", upvote their answer, and move on.
As I said to another commenter, I'm glad you've had a different experience. This is based on about ten years of being a part of that community, as well as the experiences of many people I've mentored and worked with.
Questions where the greatest puzzle is what the author is actually asking, however, or the "do me homework for me" kind, however... well, that's a different story.
As someone who spent a lot of time in the review queues, I regularly flagged to close those sorts of questions. I'm not even remotely referring to those. I'm talking about good, well-structured questions that some of the "cool kids" decided was just "too obvious" (to them) to be worthy of existing, and so they attacked by all means possible. You'll notice in the comments on this article, I'm not the only one who has seen that.
...can be reconciled with my own experience of SO only by introducing the auxiliary theorem: "the Python community is waaay more vicious than the JS community".
As I already mentioned in another comment, JS is indeed different, partially because you haven't "run out of questions" in that ecosystem yet, and TMTOWTDI is unavoidable. Yet, interestingly, the Python community as a whole all but disavows StackOverflow, both for the rampant inaccuracy and the unhealthy social dynamics.
Meanwhile, I've encountered the same first-hand in relation to C++, C, and ActionScript, not counting the typical patterns of behavior I observed in many other tags through my helping to clear the review queues. At one point, I was spending 1-3 hours a day in the queues. I was actually watching these behaviors become a norm.
As for downvoting - it isn't free (at least on the answers).
When you have tens of thousands of reputation points, -1 means absolutely nothing. So, in effect, it is free if you're an elite. It only costs something if you have little reputation to spend.
Downvoting questions, of course, is always free, so it provides a convenient, anonymous way to harass newcomers. And yes, it happens regularly. I lost count of the "first post" instances I encountered in the queues which were fully qualified as good questions (well structured, clear, not a duplicate), but it was downvoted heavily anyway.
I see, however, technically correct answers with negative votes when they're third or fifth copy of the same exact solution. If you're about to post an answer to a question that already has one, yours should bring something original - otherwise, what's the point?
Agreed, but again, not what I'm talking about. What's further, sometimes the non-popular user posts first, but when the elite user comes along and posts the same content, the less-popular user is downvoted. This was something I, again, saw happening more and more via my work in the review queues. That phenomenon was half of the reason I stopped ever trying to answer anything.
So, I'm glad your experience has been better. StackOverflow is a big place, and as I said in my other comment, it's perfectly possible not to notice the bullies on the jungle gym from the swings.
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
Seems like you and me are using different StackOverflows. I don't see the community "dumping on" questions that "aren't puzzling to an expert". Questions where the greatest puzzle is what the author is actually asking, however, or the "do me homework for me" kind, however... well, that's a different story. Your observation on the comments being "nothing but trash can fire half the time", can be reconciled with my own experience of SO only by introducing the auxiliary theorem: "the Python community is waaay more vicious than the JS community".
As for downvoting - it isn't free (at least on the answers). When I downvote your answer, we both lose rep points. That mechanism in itself discourages downvoting on a whim. I don't get downvotes often, but when I do, it's a rare occurence when I have reasons to think "It's a perfectly valid solution and someone's being a jerk".
Upvoting of the "elite" and downvoting of the "peons" even if their answers are correct? Again, not my observation. I see, however, technically correct answers with negative votes when they're third or fifth copy of the same exact solution. If you're about to post an answer to a question that already has one, yours should bring something original - otherwise, what's the point?
Many a time I saw someone post exactly what I was about to post (and what I'd even started typing) - a little frustrating, yes, but the reasonable thing to do was to click on "Discard", upvote their answer, and move on.
As I said to another commenter, I'm glad you've had a different experience. This is based on about ten years of being a part of that community, as well as the experiences of many people I've mentored and worked with.
As someone who spent a lot of time in the review queues, I regularly flagged to close those sorts of questions. I'm not even remotely referring to those. I'm talking about good, well-structured questions that some of the "cool kids" decided was just "too obvious" (to them) to be worthy of existing, and so they attacked by all means possible. You'll notice in the comments on this article, I'm not the only one who has seen that.
As I already mentioned in another comment, JS is indeed different, partially because you haven't "run out of questions" in that ecosystem yet, and TMTOWTDI is unavoidable. Yet, interestingly, the Python community as a whole all but disavows StackOverflow, both for the rampant inaccuracy and the unhealthy social dynamics.
Meanwhile, I've encountered the same first-hand in relation to C++, C, and ActionScript, not counting the typical patterns of behavior I observed in many other tags through my helping to clear the review queues. At one point, I was spending 1-3 hours a day in the queues. I was actually watching these behaviors become a norm.
When you have tens of thousands of reputation points,
-1means absolutely nothing. So, in effect, it is free if you're an elite. It only costs something if you have little reputation to spend.Downvoting questions, of course, is always free, so it provides a convenient, anonymous way to harass newcomers. And yes, it happens regularly. I lost count of the "first post" instances I encountered in the queues which were fully qualified as good questions (well structured, clear, not a duplicate), but it was downvoted heavily anyway.
Agreed, but again, not what I'm talking about. What's further, sometimes the non-popular user posts first, but when the elite user comes along and posts the same content, the less-popular user is downvoted. This was something I, again, saw happening more and more via my work in the review queues. That phenomenon was half of the reason I stopped ever trying to answer anything.
So, I'm glad your experience has been better. StackOverflow is a big place, and as I said in my other comment, it's perfectly possible not to notice the bullies on the jungle gym from the swings.