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I'm of course not directly saying there is a massive masonic conspiracy to downvote answers of people not part of a particular clique. I am highly aware I would be pilloried for suggesting this opinion. Yet despite the opinions I've seen on this site ('You can downvote whatever you want' (morally wrong)) I feel votes have real consequences and are important (yes 'fake internet 'points'' do matter and affect people's lives signficantly).

Hence as a matter of precedent I'm asking: was this a legitimate downvote, or a fake one, or part of a conspiracy?

https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/81233/60751

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    Small note: Assuming this is your normal manner of speech, I've never seen the word 'pilloried' used before, so it makes the question a bit fuzzy.
    – user30031
    Dec 11, 2016 at 22:44
  • Do you think it might be my mode of speech that's causing the problem? Do I come off as... I'm very interested in the modalities of speech and have a lot of time for Oliver Kamm's opinions on Chomsky's ideas on linguistics. Might this be an affecting factor? Dec 12, 2016 at 10:32
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    @TheMasterPriest - no memes involved. Try not to be paranoid. I'm guessing your answer was downvoted because "pay more" is a foolish response to "how to deal with a crying developer". Dec 12, 2016 at 11:13

2 Answers 2

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Some thoughts:

One thing to realize is that when you posted your answer, there were fifteen answers already. Upon clicking "answer" you should have seen:

enter image description here

Note that your answer doesn't really add much over the prior 15 answers. It is more or less a commentary on the situation and doesn't really address the core problem and a suggestion which seems tangential to the core issue the OP has.

The core problem from the question:

My question is how can my team and I get on the same emotional level of someone who is nearly irreplaceable and I have no intentions of getting rid of? I would like tips on how I can calm him down as I have no experience in doing so.

Everything in your answer there is commentary on the situation with a very small amount of actual actionable in it.

It would also benefit from an explanation of how and why you think your suggested solution will actually solve the problem the OP is facing. Your suggestion is tangential at best and probably would be better suited to a more comprehensive explanation, if you think that it is the correct action for the OP to resolve the situation the OP is facing. It's possible it might, however you have not given me a good explanation for why it will fix the issues presented in the question.

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  • So you personally believe the downvote to be a protest at the answering of a question that has already been answered a lot already? I would assume that paying someone more is very actionable in circumstances where, as detailed in the question, the employee is described as being extremely valuable to the company, but I have only had my business two years, so perhaps...? The rest constituted an attempt to empathise with the employee, but perhaps for an upvote I should also have attempted to empathise with the employer? Dec 12, 2016 at 10:36
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    Empathizing isn't the point of the site, giving specific advice is the point. You also have no evidence as to why more pay would help the situation with the crying, so it's completely off topic. Your answer want useful to the question asked and therefore deserved no votes at best.
    – user30031
    Dec 12, 2016 at 14:03
  • @DoritoStyle Empathising is the duty of every employer. Always. Dec 12, 2016 at 14:32
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    @TheMasterPriest the duty of every employer is it's continued existence of it's status as an employer. Anything else is self-defeating. Dec 12, 2016 at 15:06
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    The "duty of every employer" is frankly irrelevant to this question/answer site, and your refusal to assume good intent is not helpful.
    – user30031
    Dec 12, 2016 at 15:32
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'Bad' answers are a matter of perspective. We all think our answers are correct or we wouldn't (hopefully) be making them. But this is an internet group, you have no way of knowing why people disagree and no way of forcing them to agree.

I very much doubt that any conspirators are targeting you. And don't let a few downvotes (it's only 4) discourage you from participating. I've had much more downvotes than that many times.

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    @TheMasterPriest Kilis is right. Both he and I get slammed hard routinely as our styles tend to be gruff at times. I've had popular answer of mine catch almost 100 downvotes along with all of it's upvotes. It happens. Dec 12, 2016 at 15:47
  • I thought it was because of my bad grammar...oh well... que sera sera
    – Kilisi Mod
    Dec 16, 2016 at 23:30

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