Why ask-ubuntu can seem frustrating to the average user

Question

So, I've been using Ask Ubuntu for a while now, but the whole thing is rigged against the average user. So the same thing happens every time I have a problem on my computer and I go here for an answer.

First off, I'm asking the question and I can't use pictures to describe my problem because I need "reputation" So once I do get an answer some bully comes in and dislikes everything. He dislikes the answer because he has a better way of doing things that he doesn't feel like sharing, dislikes the question because:

1. He doesn't like it for whatever reason.
2. There's a similar question and it's a "duplicate" (which I already read with no success)

Next when a new user comes in and asks a question (that I know the answer to) one of two things happen:

1. He gets the answer but can't vote the answer up because he's in the same boat I'm in
2. the bully comes in and dislikes it because he has a "better", more complicated answer.

Let's look at this example

So after upgrading my computer will not start so I go to Ask Ubuntu and after an hour I find a solution replace systemd with upstart and my computer starts well I decide to share my answer and again a bully with more reputation comes in dislikes my answer because he has a "better" answer that he doesn't feel like sharing. This happened to me about 5 times

So I pretty much can't do about anything due to the bullies who misuse the reputation system.

Any solutions on how I can actually use Ask Ubuntu would be appreciated because so far the easiest thing is to just switch communities.

Answer 1

So far you've asked a question 9 times and answered a question 7 times.

Only 2 out of the 9 questions you have asked (excluding this one) has been downvoted (this one and this one); personally I wouldn't have downvoted either of the two.

Only 1 out of the 9 questions you have asked (excluding this one) has been closed (this one); personally I would have voted to close it as well.

Only 2 out of the 7 answers you have posted have been downvoted (this one) and this one); personally I wouldn't have downvoted the first one, but I would have downvoted the second one.

But checking the questions and the answers that have been downvoted, I saw this comment (which I flagged):

I can't comment I don't have enough reputation because of dirt bags like you who mark down other peoples answers without offering their own answer

And now your question here on meta. (migrated)

Now it's not the first time that someone gets downvoted (for a right or for a wrong reason; here's just the latest post on Meta), but in any case you still can't go around calling names, even if you're in right.

I partially agree that not all of the downvotes you received were deserved (but that's just my measuring, not each one's measuring).

I've checked all of your answers, and I wouldn't say they are bad, but they're indeed concise; I agree that sometimes a concise answer is enough, however, speaking of the most recent non-downvoted answer you gave, for example, you could have explained how to download and install WINE, Steam and VirtualBox (it would have been a matter of writing two apt-get commands) and I would have upvoted it, nonetheless also explaining (even concisely this time) how to install Windows on VirtualBox would have make up a great answer.

Don't call names (ever), try to answer more thoroughly and you'll see that really good answers get lots of upvotes.

Answer 2

@kos answer covers most of the points, here is just a (quick) breakdown of some other answers to bits in your question

• I can't use pictures to describe my problem because I need "reputation"

  Post a link to https://imgur.com or similar - one of us lot can edit it into the question properly

• He dislikes the answer because he has a better way of doing things that he doesn't feel like sharing, dislikes the question
  ....
  He doesn't like it for whatever reason.

  That happens (sometimes a lot less here than on other SE sites...). If someone downvotes a post, they (or someone else) should comment as too why to why (like they have here - if they have not explained.... they might be a troll (or 'bully') :) - from this you can establish what is 'accepted'.
  In the example question/answer, I think the issue is that it could destabilise the system as everything has been moved to work with systemd, so things that don't work with upstart may not not work at all. Your question was also sort of 'I have to edit an fstab, how do I do that?', which kyodake pretty much answered.

• There's a similar question and it's a "duplicate" (which I already read with no success)

  If you have found a duplicate and it doesn't work say IT DOESN'T WORK, and include the link to it and why it doesn't work (what happens). It takes multiple (atleast 5) votes to dupe/close a question, so you can prevent more votes happening. The question can also be voted on again to be reopened if it is necessary.

Answer 3

Since I was one of the "bullies" that initiated the closure of this one, I might add a few words:

• About closing as duplicates
  On a daily base, many questions are asked. Some categories of questions are asked repeatedly. People put a lot of effort in answering questions, many times on a high level and answers are edited many times afterwards to give a more complete solution to the question. You also have to understand AU is not a personal help desk, but we are creating a database of answers to offer solutions to a broad variety of problems.

  That is why the site's policy is to prevent repeatedly giving the same answers over and over again, and that is why similar questions are marked as duplicate.
  Sometimes, questions are marked incidentally as duplicate, sometimes because the title suggests so, sometimes because of circumstances, not mentioned in the question. You have to understand reviewers (bullies) have to look through lots of marked questions, and we are humans.

  As mentioned, that is why it is important to communicate if your question is marked, and mention what you did and what is the difference between your question and the dupe.

• About downvoting
  As mentioned before, I am not much of a downvoter. I only downvote on answers if they are potentially harmful or include incorrect information, on questions if OP obstructs the creation of a useful answer. The truth is that although voting should be a rational and objective thing, in practice that is not always the case. We all suffer equally from that I guess. I am pretty sure however that especially the "bullies" you are referring to do not misuse the reputation system and show integrity in the way they vote.

So in a nutshell:

Don't take marking your questions personally, but look at the supposed dupe and see if it helps you. If not, indicate what is your remaining problem. In case of unexplained down votes, see if there is anything wrong in your post. If not, ignore the down vote and move on.