5

When an OP asks for a down vote clarification, power users should be able to click a button to add the following comment:

In the absence of a specific comment, you might find it useful to assume that a downvote means the downvoter thought that "This question does not show any research effort; it is unclear or not useful", since that's what the downvote button offers as a tooltip.

  • I generally do this when I see downvoted posts with no explanation. – enderland Dec 6 '13 at 15:04
  • 4
    You can script that, FYI. – Monica Cellio Dec 6 '13 at 16:35
  • @MonicaCellio: Umm... That's awesome!!! Thanks, Monica! – Jim G. Dec 6 '13 at 16:35
  • 1
    Ok, if that addresses the need I'll put it in an answer. – Monica Cellio Dec 6 '13 at 16:38
9

This user script from StackApps allows you to add pro-forma comments to any post on any site. It comes with some standard ones, but you can edit the list to either change those or add new ones. A "welcome to our site" message is a good one to have (with link to the "about" page, optionally). You can use this script to create a comment like the one in the question.

When using pro-forma comments you should always review for that specific context before just clicking "post". The script gives you an edit buffer, not a posted comment, for just that reason. Please don't be mindlessly mechanical, but there's no reason to keep typing the same message over and over again by hand either.

-2

Maybe at least as soon as the overall rating is negative, there could be an 'info' icon with that as the hover text.

I know that's already the hover of the downvote button, but people apparently don't get that (I didn't know until today) and this request is about making this detail obvious.

You must log in to answer this question.

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