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I was involved with the following scenario. This scenario is an example of many scenarios like it. Many have been pointed out on a popular meta thread dealing with feelings of negativity on SO. Can we as a community do anything to mitigate this type of behavior or make behavior like this have some consequence?

Please review specifically the reason for edit on my answer.

Replace Quotations in records SQL Server

Here was the series of events:

  1. I post an answer.
  2. UNSPECIFIED USER (not OP) leaves a comment about my answer not meeting OP requirements.
  3. With UNSPECIFIED USERS's opinion at heart, I write another answer for the OP.
  4. UNSPECIFIED USER up-votes my new answer
  5. UNSPECIFIED USER leaves a comment that I can probably format it better
  6. I write back that I use tab indenting and suggest that pasting it into SSMS will show its formatted quite nicely. (Note: I do not disagree with his call for formatting)
  7. UNSPECIFIED USER writes another writes a comment back that there are settings in Visual Studio I should learn how to use to fix the format to his unspecified standard.
  8. I comment back and poll UNSPECIFIED USER how this format argument is helping the OP
  9. UNSPECIFIED USER removes his comments from my answer.
  10. UNSPECIFIED USER edits my answer so that he can downvote stating so, and downvotes.

Let's recap:

  • UNSPECIFIED USER has not provided an answer himself
  • OP has not made any indication to any of the answers provided.
  • UNSPECIFIED USER has removed a vote from a good answer because he was challenged not about formatting specifically, but the value of additional formatting and my questioning him on asking why more is needed?

What's ultimately frustrating to me, is I have spent part of my day trying to help/encourage the OP towards a solution that was workable for his scenario only to arrive at petty formatting commentary by someone with the power to modify and coach the formatting towards a standard of his choosing. (without argument no less!)

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  • What is EFF? (Google says 'Electronic Frontier Foundation') Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 17:48
  • Northwestern slang in my circle of friends for WTF. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 17:50
  • Internet slang dictionary explains it means f***. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 17:50
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    What I think we can do without is the Egos programmers exude. Its been getting worse and worse. And I am calling it out here. I've been a SO user for a long time now and have not found a need to assert my knowledge in a manner that implies an OP or other SO user is somehow inferior. Everybody is in a different place in their careers. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 17:52
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    I must admit that Hogan is going out of line here. I'm not so sure that this warrants a whole rant though. Just flagging the issue would be best, the comment of Hogan that he edited the answer just to remove the vote should do the trick. I'm doing the same sometimes, adding a tiny bit of information, but only to upvote. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 17:55
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    Frankly, what I gather from this is that you don't need to be so sensitive about imaginary internet points. By him deleting his comments, he was cleaning up the question for future reference, not to cover his tracks. I agree it was a little much on his part, but not worth a hissy-fit rant. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 17:55
  • @owlstead this is one of many experiences I have had on SO very very similar to this. So if this were a first offense I might think it isolated to this issue. Let me assure you how little weight I put on the whole reputation thing. And I think in a kinder manner the whole upvote/downvote thing has been hashed quite extensively with issues like this as well...has it not? Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 17:58
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    What the hell does this have to do with SO developers being ego freaks? This is a human interaction issue. Go take it up with their management. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 18:23
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    @MattAkers: What, you mean the world is filled with big egos? Sure! Not much we can do about that other than perhaps grow a thicker hide. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 18:29
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    @MattAkers: Sure, and I agree. But the way to change this is to lead by example. Show your son and the rest of the world how you'd like to be treated, by treating the rest of the world that way. A rant here on Meta is not going to do it, I'm afraid. And that's speaking as the father of a 16 year old geek with a liking for programming. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 19:04
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it does not appear to seek input or discussion from the community; it is, as its title states, simply a rant. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 19:06
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    What result are you trying to achieve by posting this? There's no place on Meta for ranting. If you believe that there's a solvable issue we can talk about, it's lost in the noise. I tried to edit your post to find it, but I can't, so I've voted to close. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 19:09
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    @MartijnPieters The example is being made of this UNSPECIFIED USER trying to throw his weight around about formatting that may be completely acceptable to the OP (who hasn't rang in yet),but instead its more convenient to attack someone with an opinion about it. That's meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/251758/…. I should have flagged him, but what recourse do I have when he deletes his posts? I wasn't out of line at all here. His standard of format is not SO's by the way. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 19:59
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    Nope, that's just the recency illusion; nastiness is not new or recent, I am afraid. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 20:04
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    Let's face it guys. The person in question definitely abused his power, his edit would have NEVER made it through the suggested edit queue if he was a lower privileged user, and his edit reason was completely unjustifiable. I doubt this is a global problem, but the problem does exist. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 20:43

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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While I don't agree with the removal of the upvote juste because the formatting isn't as one's liking, I think you are taking this way too seriously. People commenting on code formatting, there's nothing bad here, it has been around ever since lines of code first existed.

As far as voting is concerned, people may up/down vote as they see fit. They might downvote your answer because it is not formatted as they would like it, or upvote your post because it contains a funny jokes; every user has its own rules on what deserves an upvote or a downvote. Obviously, the reputation loss is annoying when you get a downvote simply because your own coding standard is different than the voter's, but down the road, it doesn't really affect your overall reputation.

The Intertubes is full of weird people, and some of them hang out on SO. Having an account on SO doesn't imply you have good judgement. On the other hand, you should not take it personally when weirdos downvote your answers or suggest you change your code formatting.

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    That being said, please refrain from commenting on my choice of word or formatting :D Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 18:03
  • I am not sure I care for the two paragraph format :) Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 18:04
  • Seriously or not its obnoxious when you post a good answer that you take time out of your schedule to help another programmer for the "greater good" you get balked at because of format. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 18:05
  • @Matt It happens. It sucks, I agree, but take a deep breath and move on. It's Friday afterall ;) Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 18:09
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    @Matt It was a friendly recommendation. I looked over the comments, and he wasn't hounding you at all or giving you attitude about the formatting - he was just wondering why it was odd and offered a way to fix it in the future. Making something easier to read is rather constructive, in my opinion - not that I even looked if it was hard to read in the first place. Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 19:35
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    Editing just to change a vote is definitively a misuse. Does it makes sense to flag the user or do something? I don't know. Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 12:39

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