I condemn your irredeemable node to the bowels of hell, bitch!
As I write this I am kind of a newbie on E2. I have been made pretty welcome and my writeups have been well received for the most part. But every so often I get a downvote, and have to wonder what the hell I is going on around here. Now don't get me wrong, I do not harbor some latent belief that I am the next Hemingway or ToasterLeavings. I am a good writer but have not practiced the trade in some time; let's just say I'm a little rusty. At this point many people probably will think that I am going to devolve into a whimpering pile of whine but I urge you to read on, I do have a point.
My shock at being downvoted comes from the fact that all of my nodes are factual (well maybe not wasabi, that one is kinda fluffy), and while the writing may not be up to the standards required for a scholarly journal, spelling and grammar are correct to the best of my knowledge. I cite my sources when available, many of which include actual printed material (bites knuckles of fingers and looks impressed). And yet I get downvoted.
Perhaps it is my understanding of the purpose and usage of the E2 voting system. Perhaps the books I referenced have bad information, perhaps my downvoters believe that I'm just making this shit up, I don't know, and CANNOT know because I have never received criticism about any of my writeups (what can I say, there are only 12) other than the occasional "we would prefer it if you named your nodes in this way" or, "It would look better if you formatted it this way". I relish these comments and give special thanks to Ouroboros, wertperch, dannye, m_turner and any others I may have forgotten who have taken the time to be "neighborly" and give the newbie a few tips and a bit of encouragement. I also cannot forget ac_hyper who frequently catches the little typos that slip past the spell checker and my proofreading.
As I said before, perhaps it is my understanding of the voting system so before I get any further here is my perspective on the whole voting thing. If you like a writeup, and think it adds to the database, +1. If you think a writeup is superb, makes you laugh till you piss, makes you go "wow, that is really interesting", or makes you think "they must have really spent a lot of time on that, they did a really good job" then you should (if you can) give it a C!. If the writeup is a total fucking waste of nodespace, bereft of life, humor, or correct information and has no place here or anywhere else that civilized men and women may happen upon it, then vote it down. Otherwise, leave it alone.
As I see it downvoting a node is your stamp saying "this does not belong here, get rid of it will 'ya". Let me put this into perspective. I have written all factual nodes (not including this one) and nearly 50% of them have at least one downvote. I cannot fathom why someone would say "hey, this factual information has gotta go, there simply is not enough space in the database for this information". Maybe some people simply have higher standards, and I can accept that, but tell me why and I will try to improve. If it is a typo or gramatical error then tell me so I can fix it. If I get a positive vote or a C! I know I must have done something right. If I got a negative vote I must have done something wrong. In both cases, what was it that I did?
We are all capable writers here, and writing means communication. Is it so difficult to speak up and give some feedback to the noder whose writup you are critiquing one way or another.
This is not about XP; personally I could give two shits about XP. What this is about is quality. I would assume that everyone here cares at least a little about the quality of the database, especially those who have been here for some time and poured a good deal of their hearts and minds into this site. Your silence serves no one. Your constructive criticism has the potential to help. Perhaps people fear "retaliation" from someone who cannot take criticism. Well, all I have to say about that is that we are all intelligent sentient beings. If you have not learned the value of a few wise words from a trusted friend by this point in your life then I pity you.
Those are my thoughts on the matter. I would like you to vote on this node according to your own beliefs of what constitutes a +,-,C!, but I would like to know what you think. If that is too much to ask then maybe I'm missing the point, or maybe the point was missed by you.
In breaking news I appear to have earned my first serial downvoter. Looking back at my nodes, someone has gone through and systematically downvoted all of my nodes. I wonder if they even took the time to read ANY of them. To whoever that was, I love you too and I hope the whole puberty thing turns out OK. Spite is such a petty thing.