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I've noticed that some posters , in my opinion, are aggressively posting to gain reputation at the expense of legitimate content.

I can't offer up any immediate solution(s). But, I think, that as a community, if that trend continues, BSE becomes more of a game than the professional forum that it currently is.

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    $\begingroup$ Link to the examples in question would be helpful, even just to the user. $\endgroup$
    – David
    Jun 8, 2016 at 2:47
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    $\begingroup$ Can you elaborate on why you think this? Perhaps some examples? $\endgroup$
    – gandalf3 Mod
    Jun 8, 2016 at 2:47
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    $\begingroup$ It's something I've noticed. I prefer to not throw any individual under a buss. $\endgroup$
    – Dontwalk
    Jun 8, 2016 at 3:23
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    $\begingroup$ @Dontwalk I appreciate your consideration. I intended to suggest providing examples of the behavior or language, not of any specific individuals. In hindsight I'll admit that was not at all clear. So that said, as it is now we have no way of knowing what you mean by "aggressively posting". In your own words, could you describe or paraphrase what you interpret as an "aggressive post"? $\endgroup$
    – gandalf3 Mod
    Jun 8, 2016 at 4:13
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    $\begingroup$ Hello. Just few words because I could feel concerned about what is said here. So... well, considering the question and the answers : yes I am new participant. Yes there is some kind of game aspect because this is new to me. Yes, I know my answers are often low level (I am just a hobbyist). But I try to take time to formalize them well and to take into account the remarks of the moderators. And surely no : this is not aggressiveness... not at all (at least, I hope !). Anyway I am not here to annoy people so feel free to express your thoughts. Sincerely yours $\endgroup$
    – lemon
    Jun 13, 2016 at 11:20

2 Answers 2

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@Dontwalk I know what you mean (and what users you mean...) But that is not the issue really. The bottom line is that is up to us to raise the bar and to keep this site useful.

You see some bad info?

Make it better!

Be it by answering with the correct information, editing, flagging, commenting or DownVoting (and leaving a comment as to why you are doing so). Help those aggressive posters put better info out there. Maybe they will turn into aggressive and accurate information posters with a bit of guidance.

If they don't react... well don't worry, those who get routinely downvoted don't hang for a long time on the site. They do get bored after a while... If the point is getting reputation then they discover that if takes a lot of work and they walk away...

The place is public and open for moderation by those with a minimum reputation (I believe you have enough points to do some of that) Excercise your privilege and help the moderators, they can't really do everything, and are all volunteering their time and expertise the same way that you do.

If you do care for the site and find it useful, you're welcome to contribute to make it better!

But better also means keeping its diversity.

So look at it with tolerance and sense of humor.

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    $\begingroup$ I couldn't agree more $\endgroup$
    – TARDIS Maker
    Jun 8, 2016 at 18:24
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    $\begingroup$ This and @David's answers are both excellent. It's become ever so slightly more common for askers AND answerers to think of downvotes and flags as insults or like the ban-hammer. But they're really just curation tools. You have the power to curate. Go forth and curate! $\endgroup$
    – Matt
    Jun 15, 2016 at 19:41
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There is (almost) no limit to how often a user can answer questions.
If this user is posting lots of good answers, maybe because he is new to the site and finds all this fun, then great! The more the merrier.

However if these are low quality, then there is a problem. Low quality posts, no matter the frequency, are an issue and should be dealt with. SE has many different ways to handle them: CV, DV, edit, flag, delete.

Guidelines for reviewing low-quality posts
more guidelines

I have not seen anything out of the ordinary, (when a user is new they are likely to #1 be quite active, and #2 their posts will not be the highest quality.) Add that together and you get more then "normal" about of answers.

Hopefully the user(s) you are referring to will quickly learn that it is much more beneficial to write a few excellent answers, then it is to flood as many answers as you can while having none of them really stand out.

You can help speed up that learning process by commenting on any answer and ask for more info, (DV and comment if it is really not good), if it is really bad flag it as "very low quality."

But you could do the same things that I would do after getting a flag. Give the user some links, links to the SE good answer help page, other good answers, etc. Leave the user a comment inviting him to chat to learn more.

Finally don't reward mediocrity, if the answer doesn't deserve a DV, but is not particularity great, then don't UV it. It doesn't take long when getting little to no rep on an answer to wonder what is wrong with it.

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  • $\begingroup$ I'd like to kindly offer some constructive criticism. Only using he/him can imply that only male users will make this mistake. Normally, I wouldn't say anything about this, as it can be a defensive topic, but I don't feel you'll interpret it that way. Since "he" is grammatically correct, and this is not a grammar forum here is a short and sweet question regarding the topic english.stackexchange.com/questions/48/…. $\endgroup$
    – 360ueck
    Jun 9, 2016 at 23:44
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    $\begingroup$ @360ueck thank you for your thoughts. As you correctly observed I am not using "he" in an only masculine form. Wikipedia talks about the generic use that I am using. (In fact the question you linked to has an answer saying that it is still recognized as gender neutral term.) Now I have a question for you, when you read my answer did you really think I was singling out men? (I did only use "he" once, and used a generic "the user" all throughout my answer.) $\endgroup$
    – David
    Jun 10, 2016 at 15:10
  • $\begingroup$ @360ueck I invite you to come over to chat if you would like to talk more about this. $\endgroup$
    – David
    Jun 10, 2016 at 15:11
  • $\begingroup$ Honestly, someone accused me of using the wrong pronoun in a similar context, and when I saw the post I couldn’t resist. Now in that setting, it was a lot more relevant. But the idea is similar to this question, in that part of it has to do with one’s interpretation. I know what the user means by “aggressive” and the problem is that it isn’t objectively aggressive, just like using “him” isn’t objectively wrong, but it could hinder in someone liking the post should they interpret it that way. I’m not trying to tell you how to speak, just trying to be helpful and share what I’ve learned. $\endgroup$
    – 360ueck
    Jun 11, 2016 at 14:31
  • $\begingroup$ When I saw your post 2 things crossed my mind. 1) That you were speaking of every Blender user. 2) What if the person who pointed out my mistake saw this. $\endgroup$
    – 360ueck
    Jun 11, 2016 at 14:32

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