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Pretty open-ended question. For example ...

How do we know if the forum (Jp.SE) is rejecting simple translation questions too much, and thereby being un-inviting to newcomers?

https://meta.stackexchange.com/search?q=unfriendly

Q: Why does Stack Exchange have to feel so unfriendly now?

What are some really-unfriendly forums? I want to go and check them out. Thank you.

Is there a stat page showing rankings of, e.g., downvoter-infestation? -- ( = crawling with Dorito-breathed nerds, creeps & meanies )

Why is the Japanese Language Stack Exchange site so negative?

(Feb. 2015) > In aggregate, Japanese.SE is solidly middle-of-the-pack when it comes to downvotes cast: we we have a upvote-to-downvote ratio of 24.7 (on posts other than community wikis), which gives us the 88th-highest ratio out of 136 SE sites.

"solidly middle-of-the-pack" --- That's surprising ... it seems pretty friendly now. Maybe it's gotten better.

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  • > "stat page showing rankings of, e.g., downvoter-infestation?" - I could be wrong since I lost the privilege when the site graduated, but I think the moderator tools page already shows something like this.
    – Blavius
    Aug 26, 2016 at 2:24
  • Thank you. . . . i just discovered the [ Jp.data.SE ] page. i still don;'t know how that page works.
    – HizHa
    Aug 30, 2016 at 21:52

1 Answer 1

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First I'd like to discuss the relationship between rejecting translation type questions and general friendliness.

How do we know if the forum (Jp.SE) is rejecting simple translation questions too much, and thereby being un-inviting to newcomers?

  • There isn't a "too much" to think about. Simple/direct translation questions are off-topic as described in the meta discussion. This isn't being unfriendly in itself. This is like turning up at McDonald's and insisting you get something from the menu at KFC, then saying that McD's is not friendly because it cannot give you what you want.

    If a person only desires KFC and nothing else, then this person is not a loss to the customer base of McD, because the products are well differentiated as far as the needs of this particular customer goes, and the two suppliers are not in competition.

What are some goals / approaches … to keep (Jp.SE) a friendly place?

  • The close reason blurb that appears after the question gets put on hold includes a link to the meta discussion with alternative suggestions to help resolve simple translation requests.

  • We can use our Chat site for translation discussions and ad-hoc requests This at the moment is restricted to users with at least 20 reputation. Chat handles back-and-forth discussions much better than the main site. You will probably find our Chat environment to feel less rigid and more friendly.

Second, to discuss the relationship between downvotes and unfriendliness.

Is there a stat page showing rankings of, e.g., downvoter-infestation?

  • All votes are anonymous and cannot be seen by even the site moderators. The SE network monitors suspicious voting patterns and have automatic processes to deal with them (such as a sudden string of upvotes/downvotes) and these are run independently of the moderators here. If you feel that you are unfairly targeted for downvotes, we can pass on the information to SE employees and then they will decide if it's a legitimate claim and whether or not to do something about it.

  • More importantly, I want to help decouple the negativity from the downvote by referring to this other (quite well written) meta answer to I've just been downvoted. How should I react?

    In summary, downvotes contain information (arguably less than if there was a comment explaining the downvote). But, we cannot force users to comment with each downvote.

    Users must maintain their freedom to downvote (not including malicious serial downvotes) and we should not take these downvotes personally.

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