On How to pronounce 'router'? my answer has been down voted from a user who answered to the same question, and who first commented my answer with a link to a link to a pronunciation file present in dictionary.com which should have been supposed to make me notice that I was wrong about the pronunciation (despite the fact another user commented on that saying that in American English the pronunciation is the same for both the meaning of router). To say it all, the pronunciation reported from dictionary.com (I am not sure if the pronunciation reported from that site is in American English, British English, or Australian English) is |ˈraʊtər| for any of various tools or machines for routing, hollowing out, or furrowing, and |ˈrutər, ˈraʊ-| for a person or thing that routes. The comment has been then changed to
Gee, I wonder if anyone else posted that information before you?
His reply didn't report what he found in the New Oxford American Dictionary or the Corpus of Contemporary American English, but he thinks he gave the same information I gave.
I got 3 down votes in less than 2 minutes, and in all the cases for an answer where that same user answered.
As a final note, I find this comment on another answer I wrote (which had a down vote too):
kiamlaluno, why do you keep copying my answers to questions? This isn't funny any more.
I didn't copy his answer; that is clear to who reads both the answers. What does that then mean? Can other users reply to a question where he already wrote his answer, or is that forbidden?
Let's then analyze the answers.
- His answer starts with I believe the meaning. I interpret it as meaning that he is not sure of what he is writing.
His answer doesn't contain any reference to any dictionaries.
I looked for laid on the NOAD, and the dictionary shown me the definition for lay; i looked for a phrase that was referring to a illness, and I found lay [someone] low.
- To verify which preposition should be used with lay [someone] low, I searched in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, and I found that the preposition used is by. I also noted that lay [someone] low was used in a sentence that was not referring to an illness, and I wrote that sentence.
The same thing happen on another question, where the same user down votes the answer given from another user because he feels like the answer is not useful. His answer starts with My own feeling about this is that "commenter" is a new word; is that more useful than the reply given from the other user?
The down voting still happens. Am I copying his answer also when he says that French man has the same meaning of Frenchman, and I report that they have two different meanings?
Updated
He says I copied one of his answers, but then he answers to a question, giving an answer that is equivalent to another one. If I give an answer that is different from his, I am copying his answer, but he can answer to a question saying what others has already said. Two different criteria are applied; the one pro his answer is not applied to others' answers.
