I have used meta.stackoverflow.com to ask a question about another question. Now I'm getting down-voted to hell!

This question was closed without any reasons, can anyone advise?

I asked two fairly simple things

  1. "Can anyone give a suggestion as to why it was closed?"
  2. "And is there any "close vote etiquette" that admins are asked to follow when voting to close a question?"

Both of which (I think)

  1. Show some research effort (I have read the FAQ)
  2. Are clear questions
  3. Are useful (particularly the etiquette part)

I don't get it. Why was this a bad meta question?

share|improve this question
If you have read the FAQ, you will surely have noticed the section on Vote Differences. Votes on Meta are sometimes used to indicate disagreement. In this case with the idea that the question should not have been closed (or that it's a constructive question). Don't worry about it. Meta rep means nothing. –  Bart Feb 21 '13 at 16:54
Meta tends to be dominated by radical closers, and they don't tend to like any insinuation of any closing being bad. –  Lance Roberts Feb 21 '13 at 16:54
It wasn't a bad question (see the "vote differences" FAQ); I assume that many people happened to disagree with your question's main premise. That's enough for many to provoke a downvote. Reputation is largely meaningless on Meta for that reason, don't sweat downvotes –  Pëkka Feb 21 '13 at 16:55
@Bart You keep saying that, but 3.6K more means I can view all the deleted trainwrecks here. –  Daniel Fischer Feb 21 '13 at 16:55
@DanielFischer ...and that's a positive thing how? Unless you're looking for additional ways to procrastinate...(yeah, guilty as charged). –  Bart Feb 21 '13 at 16:56
meta.meta.stackoverflow.com –  user414076 Feb 21 '13 at 16:57
@Bart I love a good trainwreck. (I'm good enough at procrastinating as is.) –  Daniel Fischer Feb 21 '13 at 16:57
@Mystical I read the FAQ but must have missed that point! –  Kevin Brydon Feb 21 '13 at 16:59
@Bart But I love rep. It means EVERYTHING! –  Kevin Brydon Feb 21 '13 at 17:00
@KevinBrydon In that case I recommend you insert more red freehand circles, mention unicorns and by all means oscillate a bit more. Rep guaranteed. meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/19478/the-many-memes-of-meta –  Bart Feb 21 '13 at 17:02
@Bart Thanks for the tip. I'll upgrade my computer in preparation for the number of internet points it will soon have to handle. –  Kevin Brydon Feb 21 '13 at 17:09
@Kevin you better get strong feet for your chassis so it can handle the extra weight. extreme.pcgameshardware.de/attachments/… –  Pëkka Feb 21 '13 at 17:15
add comment

closed as too localized by animuson, George Stocker Feb 21 '13 at 18:30


2 Answers

up vote 13 down vote accepted

My guess is primarily because of the title: "This question was closed without any reasons, can anyone advise?" (emphasis mine).

The question wasn't closed without any reason. It was closed with the reason of "not constructive", which was even something that you knew (as you mentioned it in the body) and the SO question contains a more in depth description of what that means. This very likely put a lot of readers off, which (as a rule) tends to attract downvotes.

The general tone of the post is also of the mindset that the question is fine, and that it was wrongly closed, as opposed to a tone indicating that you were genuinely curious as to why the question was closed in an attempt to determine why you were wrong. This gives the impression that you are accusing those of closing the question of being wrong. This has a tendency to put people on the defensive, making them more inclined to vote negatively, not positively.

share|improve this answer
add comment

On meta, votes are counted differently than on SO. On SO, votes are used to cover the question quality, amount of effort, and whether it belongs on SO. On meta, votes are used to display approval/disapproval, not the question itself (although bad questions are often down-voted anyway, they are closed/deleted.

share|improve this answer
add comment

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .