+1 excellent point

@Jeff Atwood: Here's one example: IMO the asker wrote a fairly poorly worded but reasonable question: How do I configure Sendmail to relay email? He didn't word the question that way, but if he had known enough to, he probably could have found the answer without SF

Ok, good example. What does a down vote on that question do to help SF? IMO the asker could be a valuable member of the community, but a down vote right off the bat says, "You're not one of us, go away." Is that good for SF?

A good point. Thanks for the answer.

"Try to participate, get slapped, never come back again." That's what I'm talking about. Maybe a "This is a new user, be gentle" kind of message would help? Anyway, thanks for the very thoughtful answer. Back to answering & upvoting... :-)