Why did sucking question get a lot of downvotes?

Question

I am nothing short of astonished to have received a lot of downvotes and a closevote on sucking sound, as this was not the first time I had written an interesting question and the community voted down or even closed the thread.

In this regard exemplary was the instantaneous and unilateral closing of the die-in question, which then was reopened and got the nice question badge.

But, since the sucking question is about the finer points of the word's definition provided by MW and there is no similar word in my own language, can anyone explain why it was so unwelcome here?

Is it possible that there are users who vote down or close my question basing their behaviour only on prejudices?

Answer 1

I neither downvoted your question nor close voted it, so perhaps you don't want to hear from me. But I almost did both. So maybe that counts.

I've found some of your questions quite interesting. I thought your lie in question was fine, and I voted to reopen it, so I hope you'll accept my word that I'm not prejudiced against you.

I thought about closevoting (and often closevoters also downvote) because I honestly had a hard time knowing what you were asking (unclear what you're asking is a reason to close.) I didn't know if you were asking for a different onomatopoetic word, or if you were kidding with this question:

Can anyone describe what a sucking sound is and how it is made?

Only after some comments were posted did I understand that you were (perhaps?) wondering how slurp is interpreted as a sucking sound. Even then, it's borderline at best, because it's a matter of opinion.

Are you implying that because a number of your questions have been well received that all of them should be, or that all down/close votes that are rapidly acquired are uncalled for? If you are, that can't be a serious question. On this site, the interesting that counts (vote-wise) is in the eyes of the beholders. Even diamonds don't sparkle 24 hours a day.

Is it possible that there are users who vote down or close my question basing their behaviour only on prejudices?

Certainly it is. It's not fun, and it's not optimal, but asking that will do less to change it than making sure your questions don't fall into the categories for close voting.

Answer 2

I can't recall, but I'd be one to downvote for the following reasons:

1. I don't know how a sucking sound relates to English Language & Usage
2. I can't figure out if the request is serious, and in what context the question is useful for other visitors.
3. I don't know why someone needs to know the answer to the question in general
4. As a native speaker of English, I don't understand how anyone would be unaware of what a sucking sound is.
5. If it's the case that you are deaf and have never heard such sounds, it would be the case of explaining the color red to a blind person.
6. I'm not sure what would constitute an answer that you'd accept.

Note that even if onomatopoeia is valid, I'd still expect to have a question in terms of

What's the word that sounds like ______?

or

Why is pop the word that sounds like what bubbles do?

Or, to rephrase your question:

[Why] is slurp the onomatopoeia for a sucking sound? Are there etymology reasons?