0

I have a question about my Unix & Linux Stack Exchange post: Wget isn't downloading files

It appears that in some instances people down-vote questions simply because they self-resolve, which seems illegitimate to me. Are there Stack Exchange guidelines on this issue? If so, what are they? If it were believed that the question might legitimately have been down-voted for other reasons could anyone tell me what they might be, because at the moment I see no ways in which it runs contrary to any site guidelines, explicit, implicit or unwritten.

7
  • Downvoting because the question fixes itself seems unnecessary; closure is sufficient. In your case, your question omits important information and works when tested by others. I guess that is worth a downvote.
    – jasonwryan
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 21:39
  • What important information should I have included? This seem pertinent and I am pressing for site-wide precedent.
    – user196935
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 21:42
  • Nothing in the question indicates what directory you issued the command from, nor where the file was downloaded to; which was the whole point of the question...
    – jasonwryan
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 22:36
  • The pertinent fact, that I ran wget from the same directory I ran ls in was included. What more would you need? I understand some people need different levels of explication but it seems obvious to all reasonable persons from the description given.
    – user196935
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 22:38
  • 2
    Output to substantiate your claim. People say they do lots of things, including relevant output in their question gives people confidence that all of the variables are known, not assumed.
    – jasonwryan
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 22:43
  • 1
    No; I have no idea why I am even bothering to engage with you... You aksed why you had been downvoted, I explained that your question was deficient, now you want to get all indignant. Save your negative energy for another community.
    – jasonwryan
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 23:13
  • After the tour, there's the rest of the help pages, such as unix.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/vote-down
    – Jeff Schaller Mod
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 23:14

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5

First of all, downvotes are left at the discretion of the users. Nobody (including mods) has any knowledge of who downvoted or why except the person who cast the vote. There is nothing anyone can do about it. Are downvotes sometimes cast unfairly? Sure. But that's life. Overall, the voting on this, and all SE sites, tends to be quite valid, but yes, sometimes things go awry. File it under "people are strange" and move on.

That said, in your particular case, I can sort of understand the downvote. As you yourself pointed out in a comment, the file was actually there. So, either you missed it, or you were in a different directory or you were simply too tired and your eyes weren't working. That happens to the best of us, but it doesn't make for a very useful question for the site. While I personally would probably not have downvoted that, someone else felt differently. Or they were having a bad day. Or, perhaps, they hate usernames that start with the letter M. As I said in the first paragraph, this isn't something anyone can control.

So, just ignore it, there's nothing you or anyone else can do.

You must log in to answer this question.