-11

I'm a user of stackexchange and few days ago I started using Serverfault. I posted the first question on it and it got 2 down votes even after the question has been answered in 3 days. I figured out how to prevent down votes on stackexchange, but I don't get why would my question on Serverfault take down votes, since I explained what happened and asked clear questions on how should I handle my issue, would you kindly review it and tell me if the down vote was right and what was the possible reason behind it? I really hate to keep getting down votes, actually I'm afraid of getting a down vote even with my meta question!

You can check My Question here, the one that was down voted twice.

2 Answers 2

11

There is no reason to be "afraid" of a downvote as long as you usually write good, topical questions.

The downvotes were not mine, but something is immediately clear:

You actively try to circumvent a restriction set by Microsoft to not allow an SQL server on a Domain Controller. MS put this restriction into place for good reasons and trying to weasel around this is not professional system administration. Since SF is a site exclusively for professional system administrators, we have a very negative opinion about such practices, and this will easily earn you downvotes.

This is is also made clear by the hard-to-find popup notice that is displayed if you hover your mouse over the downvote button: "This question does not show and research effort, is unclear or not useful".

3
  • Agh I much prefer your answer to mine! :(
    – Reaces
    Jul 28, 2015 at 12:12
  • @Reaces: I like your last paragraph :)
    – Sven
    Jul 28, 2015 at 12:14
  • Thank you. I explained to Reaces in his answer my case. And see, I got a downvote even for asking why would someone get a downvote ;). Thanks for your clarification.
    – Saleem
    Jul 28, 2015 at 12:59
7

Because your question screams of inexperience and a lack of research.

Let's sum up a bit:

  • Installing sql server on a domain controller
  • Showing a lack of understanding on what a domain controller is used for
  • Directly declaring yourself a beginner

All of the things in your question are considered basic knowledge for most people using this site.

And to be honest, does that really matter?
If you ask questions that are obviously based in inexperience and you get a good answer but pay for it with some down-votes, your immediate problem has been resolved. And with time and more experience you'll ask better questions / answer questions that will receive votes.

5
  • Well, you convinced me. Although I didn't know that I can't post beginner questions on this site, I though it's like stackoverflow, u can ask anything as long as it's clear. I'm not and IT administrator at all actually, I'm helping out a startup company with server issues, so I'm relying on my researches to begin. But in the last few days I knew a lot about AD DS and windows server that now this question's seems too obvious to me.
    – Saleem
    Jul 28, 2015 at 12:57
  • @Saleem You can ask beginner questions, and if you word them well you'll get great answers! Just don't be suprised if they receive some down-votes. As most of the more experienced people will find them "not useful". But again, does that matter if you get your answers?
    – Reaces
    Jul 28, 2015 at 12:58
  • Right now I say no it doesn't matter. In matter of fact, the one who answered my question was too kind that he pointed me in the right direction of how to think about dealing with servers, I guess he noticed that I'm a pure beginner at these stuff and he kindly assisted me with it.
    – Saleem
    Jul 28, 2015 at 13:02
  • But still, with my experience at stackoverflow, people here at Serverfault seem to be too harsh haha, I got a downvote on this meta question too, although the support team of Serverfault said I can ask this question on meta.
    – Saleem
    Jul 28, 2015 at 13:04
  • 6
    @Saleem: Down-votes on meta just signal disagreement. If you read a question and you disagree with it you down-vote it. You got two down-votes here and one up-vote so far. I personally down-voted because I figured out how to prevent down votes on stackexchange made me feel like you were putting way too much importance on your repuation, and shouldn't be looking to prevent down votes. Your rep is a result of your actions, and should not be the main goal.
    – Reaces
    Jul 28, 2015 at 13:07

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .