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@Mari-LouA I think that the downvote feature only works properly when there is no necessary explanation requirement. I've posted more detailed thoughts on this on Meta. If people feel they are being unjustly targeted for downvoting then they should raise the issue with the mods.
@Mari-LouA That being said, the negative feeling that new users associate with downvotes is real and as a community we should be mindful of that. Having some sort of explanation/training is a good thing.
@Mari-LouA I think the close reasons and explanations need to be tweaked a bit to make it clearer for new users to understand (a) why their question was closed and (b) how to improve their question to help get it reopened. Likewise, I'm sure the documentation on how to ask a good question could be updated to give regular users an easier way to teach new users how to fit in at ELU.
@Mari-LouA As for edits, I think that any post that is written in poor English should be fixed (within reason). The primary concern regarding edits should be to make the question both interesting and answerable within the format of how StackExchange works.
@Mari-LouA I think chat is callous, certainly, and I also think that we could do a much better job responding to new users. Posts from new users tend to not fit quite right with the site but it isn't really their fault. This gives us two problems: How to "fix" the posts so they fit better and how to train new users so they can post better questions in the future.
Sadly, this is a difficult balance that requires a lot of patience and time and it is an almost utterly thankless job. I sympathize with regulars who feel that the endless stream of new users is overtaking the site. I don't necessarily agree, but I get why they are disturbed.
@MattЭллен Technically, you can polish a turd...
@YoichiOishi Do you think downvotes should even be allowed on the site? If so, when would a downvote be appropriate?
@Mari-LouA For what it's worth, this kind of question used to be really popular on ELU and the GR close vote reason was included to explicitly address them. "Closing" in this case is trying to lock the question down until the user can provide more information. The question can easily be reopened once the user responds.
@Mari-LouA Don't forget that the listed close reason is just the most common close reason. Some of those could have been voting to close for other reasons.
@Mari-LouA I've already posted a few comments on that thread. I don't know anything about the particulars and don't feel it is appropriate for me to ask about them.
@Mari-LouA Honestly, I don't have a problem with suspensions evoking feelings. The point of a suspension is to improve the site by forcing a particular user to take a break. A suspension should really only take place after it is clear that the user in question isn't going to respond to other means.
@Mari-LouA So I just dropped a ton of replies to you but if it got confusing tracking all of those back to your original questions, just ask me again. I know you and I have bumped heads before but I'm still willing to answer questions if you have them.
@KitFox You are certainly the most visible. What with the recent slamming of the "silent mods" I'm not sure most of the community even realizes what the mods do.
@KitFox Nah, I feel like I know what I signed up for. I don't mind doing heavy lifting and don't take things personally. Most of the candidate questions are focusing on policy and opinion which is fine but not directly related to mod work as far as I can tell. I think they are just trying to feel out how people think of the site.
I do find it amusing how none of the candidates are running under the platform of, "I have a ton of free time and want to use it to do the junk work that only moderators can do."
It isn't as sexy... but you'd probably get all of the current mod team's votes. :)
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