I am fairly new to programming, and I quite often require help. Being only 15 and inexperienced, I often cannot phrase questions accurately or adequately, as with my age and experience comes naivete. Four downvotes (two or three bad questions), and you're down and out for good - absolutely no coming back until you're knowledgeable enough to help other people (I am not).   This happened before, and a nice person upvoted one of my questions to get me back in again. I tried a lot harder this time to ask good questions. But then, one night, at 4:00 AM when I was tired and frustrated, I asked a question that had no example of an attempt (at that, I had absolutely no idea where to even begin and that was my question) and it got downvoted once and I was banned from asking questions. Period.   For about five days now, I've been searching desperately for questions I'm able to help with to appeal my block, and I can't find anything. This system absolutely hates beginners. It's very, very, bothersome. I, in my mediocre opinion, think that it should be nicer to newer users. Maybe a warning, an actual explanation on the algorithms, or whatever.   Sorry about the fact that I'm hating on the system, as I know so many do. But it seems to filter out anyone that isn't a bloody elitist programmer.
15007
There is a distinct decline in the level of civility on all the sites here.  Some of this is due to new users coming in and posting spam and other nonsense, but the off-topic and downvote buttons are doing a pretty good job of keeping this under control. Unfortunately, a lot of this is coming from more experienced users, and the site's built-in moderation system does not (and probably cannot) handle this very well.  Folks are rushing to pound new users down with &quot;this belongs on meta!&quot;, &quot;this is off topic&quot;, &quot;this is a duplicate!&quot; and &quot;read the Help!&quot;. (Which is correct, but should be done nicer) All this, of course, is accompanied by a flurry of downvotes.  This is not very welcoming to new users who don't know about meta, the Help, or what counts as off-topic. Now I am not proposing that we just allow off-topic, meta, or duplicate questions.  However, I think we could be gentler in the way we express these sorts of things.  Explain what meta and the FAQ are and provide useful links.  Just using please and thank-you when asking folks to read the FAQ or post something on meta would be an improvement.  I also think we could rein in the downvoting a bit.  Not that we shouldn't vote stuff down, but unless a new user's post is clearly spam, voting it down to -1 or -2 should be sufficient to send a message without piling on. I like Stack Exchange and I want it to become a resource for everyone, not just an elitist site for high-rep users on the sites.
96902
I am just learning how to program, and I have been using Stack Exchange.  I think it is a fantastic idea for a website, and I think the moderations helps the community as a whole.  However, for someone new to programming like myself, it is hard to ask and answer questions in a constructive way.  I can only answer a small fraction of the questions, and by the time I've written out the code myself, someone has answered it before me, invariably because the problems are hard for me to solve as well.   This is where a Stack Exchange site geared towards beginners would be beneficial to us who are ignorant of asking dumb questions.    I think Meta stack exchange is geared towards conversation, so, what do you guys think?
95147
I was recently banned from having the ability to ask questions on Stack Overflow. I have read all the articles about why I was banned and I am not asking to explain why. I would like to know how the system knows when to ban you from asking a question or giving an answer.  Is there a certain number of downvotes that you have to get on questions, like a -6 reputation for asking questions, or is it more than that? I would just like to know for future purposes of what to shoot for when asking a question.  I'm not necessarily asking for the number of downvotes or anything specific. I just want to know what it is based on. Because I have only asked 1 duplicate question and 6 with no votes/downvotes. So I just wanna know if it is based off of something else like user reports
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One of the main arguments against keeping old, fun posts in a locked state is that they create broken windows, which serve as an advertisement for the types of questions which are acceptable—notwithstanding the historical notice stating the opposite. I've never found that argument convincing, but I certainly wouldn't want to encourage behavior that makes Stack Overflow worse, so I'd honestly, sincerely, without any trolling like to ask those that do believe this to drop the hammer on me.   If this claim is true, I would expect Meta to be rife with posts from indignant users claiming that their question was closed, while that "weird programming feature" question over there exists. I would think coming up with about two dozen such meta posts from the last 6 months would be trivial; surely this problem is big enough to manifest itself at least once per week.  To be clear, I've seen Meta pages filled with posts containing "why question closed". I know plenty of questions get closed, and plenty of people complain. I'm talking about people specifically complaining that "old junk exists, so my new junk should, too".   Finally, let's not waste time digging through all the closed Stack Overflow questions looking for stuff that seems similar to these purported broken windows. There are tons of junk questions that come into the front door of Stack Overflow every day. This junk comes in many flavors: here's a wall of code, now find my error; here are my program requirements, now someone write it; spam; and, of course, non-constructive crap that might look similar to some of the old favorites. But just because some old junk questions exist, and some new junk questions get asked, doesn't mean the former caused the latter—post hoc ergo propter hoc.  No more rhetoric, no more arguments, no more anger. Just data.     EDIT  There's been a bit of confusion as to what I'm asking above, and it seems I could have been a bit clearer. A lot of answers and comments below deal with open questions on Stack Overflow and Programmers.SE creating broken windows, with one answer even quoting me to show how keeping questions open and active can create broken windows. The people writing these answers are correct; keeping off-topic questions open and active does indeed cause these problems.  This question is intended to ask whether broken windows would be created by keeping questions like the  closed and locked, delisted from "top question" pages, and with a big bright prominent banner proclaiming to all that the question exists for historical purposes only, and is not a good example of an on-topic question.  So the bottom line is, I was wondering just how many meta threads there were asking "why can't I ask X when Y exists" Where Y was locked at the time of asking (which would likely be reflected in the answers).
77015
I am new to Stack Exchange.  Math and physics newsletters get to my inbox every Thursday, and every Thursday there are 5-day-old answers to questions as I read them for the first time.  Too often a question of interest  has already been closed because of the low quality of recent answers and comments.  I have no reputation, and to do almost anything requires more reputation than I have.  Nothing I have found in Help helps (however I noted one user submitted an "answer" because he said he did not have the reputation to comment.  I have started wondering if Joseph Heller is looking over my shoulder.  Any help, please?  Thank you to those who made useful suggestions.  The question, "How does a new user begin using Stack Overflow/Stack Exchange?," clearly expressed my difficulties.  I would close the question if I knew how.  Good night.
102042
I think there are too many questions on StackOverflow. It is just too much for anyone to answer! I mean, I could spend my entire life trying to answer all the questions on StackOverflow.   Just to show an example, this is my daily routine:   Go on StackOverflow Go to Unanswered Questions Start from the top and answer each question, even if I  am not familiar with the language, or topic. Argue with people for down-voting me. I mean, just because I don't know anything about PHP  doesn't mean I can't answer how to assign a variable! At least I'm putting forth effort.   So far I've only been able to answer 500 questions.   I suggest that we make a change to the Ask a Question page to relieve this burden on the technology community, allowing us all to provide answers to questions that have already been asked. Then, when we have all answered them, we can undo the change and start answering the new questions.  The change is this:  Turn  &lt;input id="submit-button" type="submit" value="Post Your Question" tabindex="120"&gt;   into  &lt;input id="submit-button" onclick="return false;" type="submit" value="Post Your Question" tabindex="120" &gt;   This will stop all questions from being posted, and allow us to catch up with answering questions, even if we are inexperienced with the topic!  It would be even better if the submit button acted like the question was submitted, but simply took them back to the home page.   Please join me in the effort to catch up will all the unanswered questions!
65021
I just opened a URL to a question on programmers.SE and got the message:     But the question was locked, so I couldn't do what it asked me to do.  I consider this to be a very minor edge case bug and it's likely not worth investing developer time into it. But since this  I guess it's worth reporting even if it's just for making you aware of it.
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I asked a question that apparently offended a number of c++ programmers, and made me realize that there are some things I didn't know about C++.  Here is a link:    Unless I am free to express some ignorance, how am I supposed to ask a question (any question)?  To be clear, I'm not upset about this, and I welcome the comments and answers.  But I do notice that some questions do not get answered, or are treated with disdain by the community, because the question is perceived as an ignorant one.  Is this an "I'm superior to you" attitude?
24260
I don't think  deserved to get  deleted as spam. Martin'Vobr vas Rebex linked to a product he makes as an example of a library to accomplish the task the OP sought, and did so in a way that made it clear that he is the creator of the library and therefore his word should be taken understanding that he is biased.  Do you think he did anything underhanded in his answer? Here's the "spammy" part, for those without ten thousand arbitrary numbers:     I would try the code from the codeproject and if it suits your needs stick with it. In case of too many parsing problem the commercial email component with decent support could be a wise move. I would recommend our  ($149 single dev) but I'm biased. Feel free to browse for you own favorite ;-). At least it will be (in case of any problem) someone who is paid for solving your mail parsing problem.   Ordinarily I would flag this for moderator attention but unfortunately I am not permitted to flag locked answers. Also, I'd like to know if I'm completely wrong about my understanding of what is and is not spam.  To me, this isn't spam. To six other people, it is. One of us has to be wrong, by the pigeonholing convention of '57. Can we figure this out? There are a lot of similar users to Martin who post their products, and a lot of them do it in a very spammy way. But in the specific instance of Martin I think he does it well. We can't outright outlaw all users who advocate their own libraries, can we? Those might be the only libraries that do what the asker wants, after all.
99095
I've been lurking Stack Overflow whenever I had a problem for at least the last 2+ years. More times than not, I find my solution (or cobble one together) before I get frustrated enough to have the innernets help me with my specific custom problem.  Many times, the only commentary I would be able to add would be "thanks!" which really only wastes bits and bandwidth.  I understand implementing measures to keep the bots and SEO kids out, but sometimes it's a PITA to start participating in a community.  If you couldn't extract my question from the above rant (or title), this might be a little more clear:  Why do I require 15 reps to just up-vote something?  I feel like it's kinda silly.  Additionally, I noticed the quote off to the left:     We prefer questions that can be answered, not just discussed.   yet I have looked around here and haven't been able to find any justifiable explanation.
96716
Lot of people have posted these kind of questions, but mine deals with another perspective of the same problem, so before you cry out duplicate! just hear me out.  I'm a pretty new user on Stack Overflow, and a rookie in the world of Javascript and Jquery.  So I wanted to make something clear...  So I asked some questions based on my knowledge, and what I do not understand, while other more experienced users kept pounding me down and down-voting me.  Well, in my understanding, Stack Overflow was made with the aim that anyone can ask, and anyone can answer.  Old users constantly say This is a duplicate! or Why didn't you check the FAQ!. Now let me ask you something, Will a new user go through all of the Stack Overflow just to see whether it is acceptable to you or not?  OR does he even know that we have a FAQ?  Seriously guys, if you think that a person's question are a waste of time, why do you take the time to down-vote him??  Old users should understand that we are just wanting to get an answer, and not try intimidate us. Give us some space!   I mean seriously, after getting bullied again and again , you think anyone would want to stay on longer?  I agree some new users are just there for spamming, but hey, not all of us are like that!   Just give us some breathing room, and come on, it isn't that hard to be nice to someone.
59353
I have been on Stack Overflow for some time.  It is an AMAZING resource and don't know if I would've got through the past 18 months without it.  I love it!  Problem is that I have "1" reputation.  All of my questions have already been asked and answered.  My "new user restrictions" mean: - I can't vote up answers that were helpful. - I can't comment on answers.  I sometimes have a question to ask one of the users that answered someone else's question but I can't.  This is hard!  How do I get a break?  Do I have to troll for a couple of days/weeks/months to answer enough questions in the hope someone votes some of them up just so I can do some basic functions?  Perhaps the number of site visits and length of membership could count for something?
81062
So you are camping (please excuse the MMO jargon, sometimes I just can't help myself) your own particular corner of Stack Overflow, hoping for a couple of upvotes before bed.  It's freezing cold and you can't quite drag yourself across the room to grab the little blow heater, because that would mean leaving the almost adequate warmth of your laptop.  A completely objective question pops up, to which you absolutely know the answer.  Riding the surge of adrenaline, you spend the next twenty minutes typing like a madman. Desperate to beat the other lunatics that loiter in your tag of choice.  You beat them to the punch and enter a superlative answer, code samples, examples and maybe some ironic humour. You are flushed with your own awesomeness.  You go to bed. Satisfied you have garnered a couple of points of virtual self validation. You look forward to the flush of pleasure in the morning when you see your account bumped ever closer (yet never close enough) to that shining example of Skeetness.    Yet, the next morning, no such flush occurs.  Your answer sits in prime position for some questioner love and none eventuates.  You might get a couple of upvotes from some sympathetic SO compatriot, but the ultimate (I'll try to avoid any unsavory metaphors here)  satisfaction of accepted answer is denied you.    So my question. How you react to this kind of situation?   Catch yourself monitoring the questioner's account waiting for them to log on and then breaking nearby inanimate objects when your answer continues to be ignored. Panic that the questioner might delete their account, leaving your beloved question to evaporate in a puff of uninterest.  Wondering if it was something you said and answering some other of the questioner's queries in the hope of redeeming yourself in their fickle eyes.   I have seen a few examples of this type of frustration on Twitter and wondered how the hardcore Stack Overflow community dealt with this type of rejection.
78035
There is a lot of irritation and whining from newbies when their suggestions get downvoted because they don't understand that votes have a different meaning here.   This is unnecessary, and I'm absolutely sure is one of the contributing factors why some people turn away from Meta after first contact, and never return.  To fix this, when a user asks their first question here, it should be pointed out in big bold letters that voting follows different rules here than on the mother site.  Something like     Note that voting on Meta.stackoverflow.com works differently from the other Stack Exchange sites. Voting is used as an expression of agreement or disagreement on contributions here, rather than to point out a lack of quality or helpfulness. Do not be too concerned if you receive downvotes - it is possible that members of the community are simply  disagreeing with what your contribution is suggesting.
79756
I'm not sure if this is a stupid question, but here goes anyway... I have only recently started learning PHP and Javascript and I'm reasonably proficient. One of the reasons I'm so proficient is because I LOVE Stack Overflow and find most of the solutions to my dilemmas here.   But I've found that I never get the chance to ask a question because it has normally been asked many times before and when I go through the unanswered questions to try and help someone else, they are generally WAY over my head.  So I'm not sure how to get more privileges. I can't even vote up answers that I like or that helped me. I can't comment to thank someone for their solution. It is most tragic and demoralising... How do I change the situation?
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Another &quot;miséricorde&quot;:  Consider  (emphasis added):  I think its okay, please dont take any efforts for me. I personally do not feel the system helps ask good questions. I dont know why asking for a software in this case is bad. Basically I needed a command that would give me this data. There is no other way I could have asked the question. I could have changed the question just for the sake of changing. I feel I am better off elsewhere. Thanks for your very very prompt responses. Regards. Bye. – user1744649  We just lost another user due to inadequate guidance on what questions are allowed.  The  by the time they are banned has been proven incorrect. Given that , we need a better way to make sure that users can understand how to ask good questions and what types of questions are allowed. I suggest that we warn newcomers, in a clear but positive tone, when one of their questions has been closed, downvoted (to a score of -2 or lower), or deleted, so that they don't repeat the same mistake.  This is probably best done the next time the user asks a question, and should appear as an &quot;interstitial&quot; page prior to reaching the actual Ask Question form.  The page should not appear to users:  with at least 50 (or perhaps 75 or 100) reputation that have asked a good question since the last downvoted/closed/deleted question that have fixed a bad question and had it reopened/undeleted/upvoted.  The content of the page should be adapted based on the specific problem with the previous question.  I would imagine something similar to the following (example for a question closed as off topic on Super User):  Before you ask another question... One or more of your previous questions have been closed as off topic. The scope of on-topic questions is defined in the , as follows:  What kind of questions can I ask here? Super User is for computer enthusiasts and power users. If you have a question about …  computer hardware, computer software, or personal and home computer networking  and it is not about …  programming and software development, video games or consoles, websites or web services like Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress, electronic devices, media players, cell phones or smart phones, except insofar as they interface with your computer, issues specific to corporate IT support and networks, asking for a shopping or product recommendation,  … then you’re in the right place to ask your question!  Please make sure that the question you are about to ask is on topic as described above. If you need help determining whether your question can be asked on this site, you can ask for advice on  or . You may also want to edit your previous question to address any problems associated with it. To ensure a high standard of content quality and prevent disruption to the community, users who repeatedly post low-quality questions  Continue  The  doesn't address this issue as it is shown only to users with 10 reputation or less (rather than up to 50 and possibly higher) and does not address the specific problem with previous low-quality questions.  The point of this feature request is to provide a easily understood targeted message that actually teaches the user about what happened with the previous question he or she asked.  The EULA is generic and may not have conveyed the intended message clearly if the user still asked a low-quality or off-topic question. For reference,  currently has 143 reputation and the proposed message would probably have been shown after the first closed or deleted question. I know this can be a complex feature to implement, since it needs to be adaptive, but this should help eliminate confusion on what the rules are and minimize the incidence of good-faith users getting post-banned.
63900
I always see Stack Overflow users giving -1 to new users' questions. This is not how you welcome a new user to the community. A new user does not know the rules yet.    I suggest that if one wants to give -1 to a new user, you prevent that and ask the downvoter to write a comment instead. new user = 2 first questions    I see the credit rating on my question is now at -9?  My question, is she not well formed or formatted? If you don't agree with the content of a question do you down-rate it? If an Ubuntu user asks a question that might not be reasonable, will you also down-rate it?  No. You post an answer that will present your thinking and correct him? I think that is part of the problem. When you first go to a community like Facebook, and you don't know the faces, you don't feel like any of those people are your relations. Newbies exist here as well, especially in a professional community.    First, welcome the new user in more appropriate way. And most importantly, force them to see/read how to post a good question.