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I answered a question. It was my first post on this site.

For some reason, I'm getting "delete" votes and downvotes. Why?

  • If Trump isn't doing the right things, Trump wouldn't have been elected. Right? Building a wall was part of his election campaign!
  • I pointed out the wall had proven quite useful for the Chinese. A user commented about "Mongols", but the wall was built during the Ming dynasty! The Ming dynasty happened after the Yuan dynasty.

We should always do the right things, regardlessly of the results. It's like giving yourself the best shot for a job interview. No guarantee for landing the job, but we still have to do it. That's the message I'd like to convey.

You don't do something just because the success rate is not 100%. You do it because it's right.

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I cast the last delete vote for your answer a few minutes ago (before I saw this meta question). I voted to delete it because it seems to state your personal opinion, rather than answer the question.

The question, paraphrased, is "What are the motivations for Republicans to pursue this policy?" A decent answer would be "because they believe that it is the right thing for the country because X, Y, and Z". An even better answer would be "Trump has stated that he believes this is the right thing for this country in this interview, quoting the reasons X, Y, and Z."

But your answer stated "Republicans are doing the right things for the country", and similar absolute statements. I'm not trying to argue the validity of your opinion, but it's not really answer to the question. It answers why you think it's a good idea to pursue this policy, but it doesn't answer the question why Republicans think it's a good idea.

In addition, the remark that "the other party would always oppose such plan just to make the president look bad" is a superfluous remark at best, and an incendiary remark at worst. The question is about the motivations of the Republicans, not the Democrats. I wouldn't have voted to delete just for this, but it's not making the answer better.

In short, this site is about explaining politics, and NOT about discussing politics. These are two very different things!

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I see from your profile you don't have the Informed badge. Now would be a good time to collect it by reading the tour.

After that, maybe take a look at the help center for some basic guidance on writing quality answers.

I down-voted because the answer was not useful. It reads like a propaganda piece. It makes a number of provably and factually false claims, and pushes opinions as fact.

If Trump aren't doing the right things, Trump wouldn't have been elected. Right?

  • If Putin isn't doing the right things, Putin wouldn't have been elected. Right?
  • If Kim Jong-un isn't doing the right things, Kim Jong-un wouldn't have been elected. Right?
  • If Hitler wasn't doing the right things, Hitler wouldn't have been elected. Right?

... You get the idea. Except those people probably actually got the majority of votes, unlike Trump (way more people voted for Hillary Clinton).

I pointed out the wall had proven quite useful for the Chinese. A user commented about "Mongols", but the wall was built during the Ming dynasty!

History shows the Great Wall of China was anything but impenetrable. There's a reason we don't build castles anymore. Walls just aren't effective. There's also the fact that most undocumented immigrants come here legally (often by airplane) and simply don't return.

  • I have downvoted this meta answer because I think it's missing the point; the reason the answer is a bad one is because it's the author's opinion, and doesn't attempt to explain the motivations of the GOP. That this is "provably false" isn't all that important as such; if the motivation that was asked for is based on "provably false" claims, then that would still be a good answer if the answer explained it properly. – Martin Tournoij Jan 4 at 8:48
  • @MartinTournoij He did ask why it was being down-voted. I'm not sure my reasons can be wrong, as they are the reasons I down-voted. – CrackpotCrocodile Jan 4 at 8:53
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    Alright, fair enough. I do think that downvoting because you don't like the POV in an answer is the wrong reason though; votes shouldn't be used to determine which political opinion is correct. I've upvoted quite a few answers where I disagreed with the premise, but that did explain the views of a certain person or group accurately. – Martin Tournoij Jan 4 at 8:57
  • @MartinTournoij I didn't down-vote because I "don't like the POV" as clearly explained in my answer. I down-voted because of false claims and claiming opinions as absolute truth. False claims are certainly not a POV issue, that's just ridiculous. Likewise claiming opinions as fact are also bad claims, because opinions have no truth value. – CrackpotCrocodile Jan 4 at 19:38
  • I'm sorry you feel upset @CrackpotCrocodile, that was obviously not my intention. Maybe I didn't adequately explain where I was coming from, so let met expand on that for a bit. As I see it, Politics.SE should ideally be a "mostly political neutral" site for discussing politics. I say "mostly" because "fully" is impossible, and some bias is fine in the right location. – Martin Tournoij Jan 7 at 8:19
  • Part of "explaining politics" is "explaining political viewpoints". So, for example, this answer is, in my personal opinion, pretty wrong for various reasons. I don't like this kind of libertarianism at all! Yet, I have still upvoted it. Why? Because it does do a good job at explaining the libertarian's POV on this matter, which was the asked question. – Martin Tournoij Jan 7 at 8:19
  • Now, if I had used the same logic in your answer here ("it makes a number of provably false claims") then I should have downvoted it. If we upvote and downvote only according to our political preferences then this site will simply become a pissing match between differing political views, rather than a site which attempts to explain politics. – Martin Tournoij Jan 7 at 8:19
  • I agree with you that this answer made false claims, but that's a bit besides the point. The reason it's a bad answer is because it tries to advocate in favour of the false claims, as if it's a weblog or Facebook post, rather than explain a political viewpoint. That's the main reason it's a bad answer, not the false claims in and of themselves. – Martin Tournoij Jan 7 at 8:20
  • Again, I'm sorry you found my previous comments upsetting, that was clearly not my intention :-( – Martin Tournoij Jan 7 at 8:30
  • @MartinTournoij What?!? What on earth do "provably false claims" have to do with "political preferences"? Preference has nothing to do with if a fact is true or false. A false claim is a false claim, no matter the political beliefs of who makes it, and deserves a down-vote in my book. I think an answer should be honest and not deceptive, and if it makes a verifiable false claim without mentioning it I would down-vote it. Not because of some political preference, but because the author is spreading disinformation. – CrackpotCrocodile Jan 8 at 9:22
  • @MartinTournoij If you were really sorry you would delete the comment accusing me of down-voting because I "don't like the POV" of the answer, which is clearly not the reason I down-voted, and honestly rather insulting and dismissive. – CrackpotCrocodile Jan 8 at 9:30

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