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Why questions get downvoted

The Stack Overflow system allows for downvotes on questions that don’t meet the criteria of a “good question”. Both the upvote and downvote buttons have specific meanings attached to them, which you can see while hovering your mouse over the button.

Upvote:

This question shows research effort; it is useful and clear

Downvote:

This question does not show any research effort; it is unclear or not useful

Despite these definitions, many questions are downvoted for reasons that don’t really match those given. We hope that you are not discouraged by this, and instead strive to improve your questions as suggested by the section on writing a good question.

If you don’t understand why your question is being downvoted, consider commenting on your own question and ask the community why this is. In an ideal world, all downvotes should be accompanied by comments suggesting what needs to be improved. It’s a good idea to humbly ask for this feedback and act on it, even if you are discouraged by the downvote itself. Don’t worry: your questions will improve over time as you learn and practice.

Why the downvote system for questions is problematic​

It’s hard to argue that the downvote system for questions adds any value whatsoever to the site. Here’s why:

  • They’re anonymous: Unlike most forms of interaction on the site, there is no accountability for votes. It’s easy for downvoters to hide behind the veil of anonymity. No one can be disciplined or called out for downvoting incorrectly.

  • They’re unhelpful to the asker: The asker of a question gains nothing from seeing downvotes. A downvote has a defined meaning by the site, but there is nothing at all policing its use. A downvote could mean anything at all, or nothing.

  • There’s no disincentive: Unlike downvotes on an answer, a downvote on a question costs nothing. Even if there was a cost in reputation, it wouldn’t likely impact the behavior of those with thousands of points who are out to target certain individuals with inappropriate downvoting.

  • They do nothing to improve the quality of the site: We can think of no tangible upside at all to Stack Overflow (as a whole) as a result of the current system. The one exception might be the satisfaction an individual might get in performing the act of downvoting, but it’s hard to rationalize that as a force for “good” to be encouraged.

Given that the downvote system is fundamentally flawed in these ways, we hope that you don’t take downvotes on your question too seriously. Our recommendation is to ignore them, and continue to work on writing the best questions that you can.

What we do recommend is taking more time to focus on the positive aspects of the site and reward good questions and answers using upvotes to show your appreciation, which are far more valuable than downvotes.