Yes, there are mean spirited, small-minded, humourless users in EL&U. What to do?

Question

I don't know how many they are, maybe they can be counted on one hand, but it is true they do exist and they are succeeding in soiling what has been, generally speaking, a positive experience for me. So what can I do?

I have ignored their down-votes and resisted posting new answers to see what would happen. I come back after a hiatus of two weeks and voilà, immediately within one hour I receive two down-votes. Both anonymous, of course, and I think very telling. These are the two answers which got downvoted today:

"Can there be a “random order”? and Can we say “taking too much car”?

The latter had received an up-vote but a mere 3 minutes later a down-vote was cast. No explanation was given, and I fail to see where that answer is inexact, clumsy, false or poorly worded.

Reputation downvote history

• July 1 three downvotes
• July 6 one downvote
• July 12 one downvote
• July 14 (today) two downvotes

Six of those 7 downvotes are for six separate answers. I strongly suspect it is from the same person. I strongly suspect it is the same person who I flagged down almost a month ago. I strongly suspect this person has been caught out in the past continually downvoting any he or she deemed unworthy of belonging to EL&U, or unqualified to express their ideas or offer explanations.

So what do I do?

1. Ignore them. Frankly, this hasn't worked.
2. Leave EL&U and close my account A possibility.
3. Write better answers. I do try my best! :)
4. Flag any suspicious activity. Been there, done that. Look where I am now.
5. Write on meta.

Addendum: "Today" refers to July 14. I also realize that this question is related to a previous post of mine on a very similar issue but please do not waste your time in trying to discover who the possible culprit is as the person in question has never been mentioned by me on meta and appeared on the scene, so to speak, at a later date.

Answer 1

What to do?

Don't get hung up on downvotes or reputation in general. Take all votes (up or down) as constructive criticism. Votes that come with thoughtful comments are the most constructive, but they're all helpful. Anonymous downvotes are much less helpful, but people don't always have the time or motivation to be more more helpful. It's best not to speculate as to why they aren't more helpful – they might be small-minded or spiteful, but they might just be pressed for time or dealing with an awkward mobile phone interface. Some folks just don't like confrontation. Assuming that downvotes are personal or spiteful will just make you feel worse about them.

So don't ignore downvotes completely, but don't give them undue weight either. Just take them as a hint that your answer might need improvement. If you can't figure out how, don't sweat it. That won't make downvotes go away, but they shouldn't weigh on you either.

Answer 2

Speaking as to downvotes you have experienced specifically:

• You reference two downvotes today; however, you only appeared to have posted one answer today. I can only presume the other downvote was on an old post; however, if someone were specifically targeting you, I don't see why they would only now go and downvote an older post of yours. Do keep in mind that it may just be coincidence.

• I'm not particularly sure which user you suspect, although I assume your reference is to your previous post on meta, as I don't see any flags either on the main site or here on meta from you which would be applicable. If you would like to identify the user privately to the moderator team, please flag one of his or her posts and let us know the details, and we can go from there.

• Voting trends, however, indicate that a small number (i.e. less than 5) users could be serially downvoting you. However, none of those users were active within an hour of the answer you posted earlier today, so it does not seem as if you are actually being targeted.

Please keep in mind that we all get downvotes that we can't explain—it may just be that someone was in a bad mood and much more critical of your post than he or she otherwise would be.

Answer 3

I didn't downvote either of the answers cited (nor any others, to the best of my knowledge).

But...

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On the first one it's possible a couple of people decided to downvote because it didn't meaningfully address the question. "Is random order a contradiction in terms?" is hardly answered by...

in none of the three dictionaries I consulted was there any mention that "random order" is considered non-standard or informal English.

Or they might think "Perhaps it was once more correct to say [three alternative phrasings]" is a "questionable" statement (it seems unlikely to me that usage is changing for this word-pairing).

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On the second one (which only has one downvote), perhaps someone disagreed with OP's assertion that you can [presumably, quite unexceptionally] say...

I take too much coffee.

In fact that's very unusual phrasing (with just 5 relevant instances there, compared to probably most of the 16,200 instances of the idiomatically standard drink too much coffee).

I don't want to seem like I'm nitpicking here, but I should add that OP's "the frequency in which cars are used is toxic for our health" is also at least "unusual" phrasing. In the context of an answer largely based on OP's opinion of what's "more natural sounding", it's less than ideal.

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I get downvotes myself. Doubtless sometimes because the answers aren't good, sometimes from people who are mean spirited, small-minded, humourless. But like many if not most people, I display all those negative qualities :(and more! ) myself from time to time. If the odd person kicks back with an anomymous downvote, you just have to take it on the chin (accept something unpleasant in a brave way without complaining).

I don't want OP to close her account. I've upvoted several of her answers, and look forward to doing this more in the future. I suggest she focusses more on options #1 and #3 (the mods and automated procedures will take care of anything excessive, and there's a limit to how often OP can raise this somewhat "personalised" issue on meta).

Answer 4

I realised a couple of days ago that I hadn't seen any answers or comments from you lately. I thought that maybe you had 'given up' here in the light of previous comments, and/or that you were now concentrating on ELL (which I rarely look at).

I have had 'run-ins' with a couple of users where I have disagreed with comments or answers from them, and/or who continually respond with stupid or facetious comments. I also see responses of the type "If what you say is true, does it mean that X = Y" - that can be a useful thought-provoker or valid point, but often it seems to be merely a facetious rejoinder. I now try to avoid engaging with them.

I should also make it clear that I had not seen either of the answers you referred to, prior to seeing your question here - so no votes either way are attributable to me!

Having said that, I also have to say that, in a situation where the questioner has cited the OED and the first two lines of your response all-but suggest "Change your online dictionary [to the] free dictionary", that, of itself, could almost be considered by some to be all-but inviting downvotes. I also agree with the first substantive point in @FumbleFingers answer.

But please do not take that as an overall criticism of your answers, as generally I find them useful and well thought out, and have indeed upvoted many.

On the question of explaining downvotes, I have to admit that I rarely do so. I know that the advice on SE is to explain them, but I also note that that advice is rarely followed, even on Meta, where I would have expected in general to see a higher and more 'reasonable' approach to issues. With certain users, I most definitely would not explain a downvote for fear of the 'retribution' discussed above - but one probably realises that only after doing so a few times.

Finally, I console myself by reminding myself that an upvote is +10 and an acceptance is +15, whereas a downvote is only -2, which is insignificant overall.

P.S. I've just seen my reputation decrease by -28 (OK double negative there!) merely because a question was migrated to ELL - and (at my present level) that's a loss of 1% reputation for no 'fault' of my own. C'est la vie! (Not sure if my French is correct!) FWIW, I've just upvoted your comment on the same question.

Answer 5

I am the OP on "random order". I thought your suggestion about an alternate dictionary sounded a bit snarky (especially since I have often tried to utilize the OED often after having been criticized for using a "lesser" online dictionary).

But I didn't vote you down. I didn't think most of your answer helped my analysis, except for the example in Merriam Webster (which I think was the dictionary I used that got me an earlier suggestion to change dictionaries). In fact, none of the answers were wholly satisfactory to me.

But I didn't vote any of them down. In fact, I almost never vote an answer down (although I do occasionally vote to close something that seems really off topic or spam). On the other site I am very active on, Home Improvement (DIY), I never vote down an answer unless it is so wrong as to border on dangerous. Then I always post a comment to indicate why I am voting it down (and why it is dangerous).

Positive feedback leads to a strong reputation. Lack of positive feedback should result in a weak reputation. I don't think our role should be that of reputation police. Our role is to provide information, and reputation should merely follow. (And yes, I pay attention to, and care about my reputation. I am only human.)

In my view, negative votes should be limited to things that are misleading, or blatantly wrong, rather than things that are just not very helpful. If we were dealing in life or death issues, if a great deal of money or energy rode on our activities here, if the language were in jeopardy, I would reconsider whether I needed to weigh in with a "NO" vote on less than stellar answers.

For now I will limit myself to "no vote" when I don't favor the answer.

Keep on posting. I enjoy reading what you write (most of the time).