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While I downvote maybe one of the answers to 5-10 "regular" questions, I noticed that almost every question with views over 2K brings answers that look bad to me.

• _{"Oh look: 'my guess is fairly prosaic. Git is brilliant...' - with upvoted answer like that it can't be a real question".}

What is especially depressing is that regular ways to deal with this kind of issues just don't work. It's typically not difficult to edit the question to repel garbage answers, I can easily name a handful of active regulars who can and do just that.

more than 1700 answers scored 25+ turned community wiki

For a little data to back up what was written above, I quickly went through few sampled questions with more than 10K views asked for last half year.

Please bear in mind that below list only partially represents the issue: it would be hard to do similar walkthrough for questions with over 2K views since these appear about 10x more frequently.

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/156722/how-does-learning-assembly-aid-in-programming
  20 answers total, I'd downvote about 7-8
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/158640/why-cant-the-it-industry-deliver-large-faultless-projects-quickly-as-in-other
  protected, 27 answers, I'd downvote about 12-13
  _{Of 7 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/159637/what-is-the-mars-curiosity-rovers-software-built-in
  protected, 2 answers, all look OK
  _{Both answers are scored above 10 (way above:).}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/159813/do-i-need-to-use-an-interface-when-only-one-class-will-ever-implement-it
  13 answers, I'd downvote about 6-8
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/161794/is-it-a-good-idea-to-design-an-architecture-thinking-that-the-user-interface-cla
  17 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/162643/why-is-clean-code-suggesting-avoiding-protected-variables
  12 answers, I'd downvote about 6-7
  _{Of 3 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/163185/torvalds-quote-about-good-programmer
  17 answers, I'd downvote about 7-8
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/165380/how-can-i-really-master-a-programming-language
  protected, 14 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 3 answers scored 10 or above, 2-3 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/167305/what-functionality-does-dynamic-typing-allow
  protected by mod notice, 16 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/168751/is-the-use-of-utf8-preferable-to-utf8-true
  protected, 3 answers, I'd downvote 2 (especially the one where author didn't even bother to format their code, <meta charset="URF-8">)
  _{The only answer scored above 10 is one that looks OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/173441/what-triggered-the-popularity-of-lambda-functions-in-modern-mainstream-programmi
  12 answers, I'd downvote 2-4
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/176113/does-having-a-higher-paid-technical-job-mean-you-do-not-get-to-code-any-more
  protected, 4 answers, I'd downvote 1-2
  _{There's only one answer scored 10 or above; it looks OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/176582/is-there-an-excuse-for-short-variable-names
  protected, 16 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/177875/why-is-the-sudden-increase-in-number-of-git-submitters-on-debian-popcon-graph-in
  protected, 11 answers, I'd downvote about 6-7
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, 2 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/180948/why-arent-user-defined-operators-more-common
  12 answers, I'd downvote about 4-6
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 4 look OK to me.}

For the sake of completeness, note that besides 199 answers reviewed above, there are also 19 answers deleted in 16 questions listed above. These answers are visible only to moderators and to users with sufficient privileges. Of these 19, 9 are deleted by moderators, the rest has been deleted by owners. Of 10 answers deleted by owners, I would downvote 7-8.

URL used to get above questions is:
http://programmers.stackexchange.com/search?tab=newest&q=views%3a10000%20closed%3a0

• Questions with 2K+ views - about 25% are CW, 307 of total 1247

• Questions with 10K+ views - about 60% are CW, 62 of total 101

While I downvote maybe one of the answers to 5-10 "regular" questions, I noticed that almost every question with views over 2K brings answers that look bad to me.

• _{"Oh look: 'my guess is fairly prosaic. Git is brilliant...' - with upvoted answer like that it can't be a real question".}

What is especially depressing is that regular ways to deal with this kind of issues just don't work. It's typically not difficult to edit the question to repel garbage answers, I can easily name a handful of active regulars who can and do just that.

more than 1700 answers scored 25+ turned community wiki

For a little data to back up what was written above, I quickly went through few sampled questions with more than 10K views asked for last half year.

Please bear in mind that below list only partially represents the issue: it would be hard to do similar walkthrough for questions with over 2K views since these appear about 10x more frequently.

• How does learning assembly aid in programming?
  20 answers total, I'd downvote about 7-8
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• Why can't the IT industry deliver large, faultless projects quickly as in other industries?
  protected, 27 answers, I'd downvote about 12-13
  _{Of 7 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• What is the Mars Curiosity Rover's software built in?
  protected, 2 answers, all look OK
  _{Both answers are scored above 10 (way above:).}

• Do I need to use an interface when only one class will ever implement it?
  13 answers, I'd downvote about 6-8
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• Is it a good idea to design an architecture thinking that the User Interface classes can be replaced by a command line interface?
  17 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• Why is Clean Code suggesting avoiding protected variables?
  12 answers, I'd downvote about 6-7
  _{Of 3 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• Torvalds' quote about good programmer
  17 answers, I'd downvote about 7-8
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• How can I really master a programming language?
  protected, 14 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 3 answers scored 10 or above, 2-3 look OK to me.}

• What functionality does dynamic typing allow?
  protected by mod notice, 16 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• Is the use of "utf8=✓" preferable to "utf8=true"?
  protected, 3 answers, I'd downvote 2 (especially the one where author didn't even bother to format their code, <meta charset="URF-8">)
  _{The only answer scored above 10 is one that looks OK to me.}

• What triggered the popularity of lambda functions in modern mainstream programming languages?
  12 answers, I'd downvote 2-4
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• Does having a higher paid technical job mean you do not get to code any more?
  protected, 4 answers, I'd downvote 1-2
  _{There's only one answer scored 10 or above; it looks OK to me.}

• Is there an excuse for short variable names?
  protected, 16 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• Why is the sudden increase in number of Git submitters on Debian popcon graph in 2010-01?
  protected, 11 answers, I'd downvote about 6-7
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, 2 look OK to me.}

• Why aren't user-defined operators more common?
  12 answers, I'd downvote about 4-6
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 4 look OK to me.}

For the sake of completeness, note that besides 199 answers reviewed above, there are also 19 answers deleted in 16 questions listed above. These answers are visible only to moderators and to users with sufficient privileges. Of these 19, 9 are deleted by moderators, the rest has been deleted by owners. Of 10 answers deleted by owners, I would downvote 7-8.

URL used to get above questions is:
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/search?tab=newest&q=views%3a10000%20closed%3a0

• Questions with 2K+ views - about 25% are CW, 307 of total 1247

• Questions with 10K+ views - about 60% are CW, 62 of total 101

Thing is though, it takes some time to figure how to clean up ambiguous wording while preserving the essence of original. In regular questions this works like a charm, but when editing a hot one, I often find out that when I'm done with edit, someone already posted an answer that invalidates my edit. And answer that exploits another minor ambiguity. And yet another, and so on, until my brain explodes!

• Until recently, low quality answers also threated to penalize contributors who post good ones because when piled on in hot questions, garbage answers trigger CW which consequently turns all the upvotes given to good answers into zero reputation for their authors.

Thing is though, it takes some time to figure how to clean up ambiguous wording while preserving the essence of original. In regular questions this works like a charm, but when editing a hot one, I often find out that when I'm done with edit, someone already posted an answer that invalidates my edit. And answer that exploits another minor ambiguity. And yet another, and so on, until my brain explodes!

• Until recently, low quality answers also threated to penalize contributors who post good ones because when piled on in hot questions, garbage answers trigger CW which consequently turns all the upvotes given to good answers into zero reputation for their authors.

As far as I can tell, many (probably most) of my downvotes go to answers in "hot questions".

"Hot garbage waves" in the answers appear to happen once or twice a week on average, frequent enough to feel the connection between these and respective questions making their way into SE collider list.

• _{"Oh look: 'my guess is fairly prosaic. Git is brilliant...' - with upvoted answer like that it can't be a real question".}

^{Taking into account that these are highly visible posts, with thousands of views, it is pretty possible for them to be a steady source of misguided contributors... There are... broken windows... "why can't I post X when Y exists".}

• Until recently, low quality answers also threated to penalize contributors who post good ones because when piled on in hot questions, garbage answers trigger CW which consequently turns all the upvotes given to good answers into zero reputation for their authors.

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/156722/how-does-learning-assembly-aid-in-programming
  20 answers total, I'd downvote about 7-8
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/158640/why-cant-the-it-industry-deliver-large-faultless-projects-quickly-as-in-other
  protected, 27 answers, I'd downvote about 12-13
  _{Of 7 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/159637/what-is-the-mars-curiosity-rovers-software-built-in
  protected, 2 answers, all look OK
  _{Both answers are scored above 10 (way above:).}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/159813/do-i-need-to-use-an-interface-when-only-one-class-will-ever-implement-it
  13 answers, I'd downvote about 6-8
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/161794/is-it-a-good-idea-to-design-an-architecture-thinking-that-the-user-interface-cla
  17 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/162643/why-is-clean-code-suggesting-avoiding-protected-variables
  12 answers, I'd downvote about 6-7
  _{Of 3 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/163185/torvalds-quote-about-good-programmer
  17 answers, I'd downvote about 7-8
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/165380/how-can-i-really-master-a-programming-language
  protected, 14 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 3 answers scored 10 or above, 2-3 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/167305/what-functionality-does-dynamic-typing-allow
  protected by mod notice, 16 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/168751/is-the-use-of-utf8-preferable-to-utf8-true
  protected, 3 answers, I'd downvote 2 (especially the one where author didn't even bother to format their code, <meta charset="URF-8">)
  _{The only answer scored above 10 is one that looks OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/173441/what-triggered-the-popularity-of-lambda-functions-in-modern-mainstream-programmi
  12 answers, I'd downvote 2-4
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/176113/does-having-a-higher-paid-technical-job-mean-you-do-not-get-to-code-any-more
  protected, 4 answers, I'd downvote 1-2
  _{There's only one answer scored 10 or above; it looks OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/176582/is-there-an-excuse-for-short-variable-names
  protected, 16 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/177875/why-is-the-sudden-increase-in-number-of-git-submitters-on-debian-popcon-graph-in
  protected, 11 answers, I'd downvote about 6-7
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, 2 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/180948/why-arent-user-defined-operators-more-common
  12 answers, I'd downvote about 4-6
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 4 look OK to me.}

_{Note I wrote "I'd downvote" above since I did not really do that to all the answers I checked because of voting limits.}

As far as I can tell, many (probably most) of my downvotes go to answers in "hot questions".

"Hot garbage waves" in the answers appear to happen once or twice a week on average, frequent enough to feel the connection between these and respective questions making their way into SE collider list.

• _{"Oh look: 'my guess is fairly prosaic. Git is brilliant...' - with upvoted answer like that it can't be a real question".}

^{Taking into account that these are highly visible posts, with thousands of views, it is pretty possible for them to be a steady source of misguided contributors... There are... broken windows... "why can't I post X when Y exists".}

• Until recently, low quality answers also threated to penalize contributors who post good ones because when piled on in hot questions, garbage answers trigger CW which consequently turns all the upvotes given to good answers into zero reputation for their authors.

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/156722/how-does-learning-assembly-aid-in-programming
  20 answers total, I'd downvote about 7-8
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/158640/why-cant-the-it-industry-deliver-large-faultless-projects-quickly-as-in-other
  protected, 27 answers, I'd downvote about 12-13
  _{Of 7 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/159637/what-is-the-mars-curiosity-rovers-software-built-in
  protected, 2 answers, all look OK
  _{Both answers are scored above 10 (way above:).}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/159813/do-i-need-to-use-an-interface-when-only-one-class-will-ever-implement-it
  13 answers, I'd downvote about 6-8
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/161794/is-it-a-good-idea-to-design-an-architecture-thinking-that-the-user-interface-cla
  17 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/162643/why-is-clean-code-suggesting-avoiding-protected-variables
  12 answers, I'd downvote about 6-7
  _{Of 3 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/163185/torvalds-quote-about-good-programmer
  17 answers, I'd downvote about 7-8
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 3-4 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/165380/how-can-i-really-master-a-programming-language
  protected, 14 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 3 answers scored 10 or above, 2-3 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/167305/what-functionality-does-dynamic-typing-allow
  protected by mod notice, 16 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/168751/is-the-use-of-utf8-preferable-to-utf8-true
  protected, 3 answers, I'd downvote 2 (especially the one where author didn't even bother to format their code, <meta charset="URF-8">)
  _{The only answer scored above 10 is one that looks OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/173441/what-triggered-the-popularity-of-lambda-functions-in-modern-mainstream-programmi
  12 answers, I'd downvote 2-4
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/176113/does-having-a-higher-paid-technical-job-mean-you-do-not-get-to-code-any-more
  protected, 4 answers, I'd downvote 1-2
  _{There's only one answer scored 10 or above; it looks OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/176582/is-there-an-excuse-for-short-variable-names
  protected, 16 answers, I'd downvote about 8-9
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, all look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/177875/why-is-the-sudden-increase-in-number-of-git-submitters-on-debian-popcon-graph-in
  protected, 11 answers, I'd downvote about 6-7
  _{Of 4 answers scored 10 or above, 2 look OK to me.}

• http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/180948/why-arent-user-defined-operators-more-common
  12 answers, I'd downvote about 4-6
  _{Of 5 answers scored 10 or above, 4 look OK to me.}

_{Note I wrote "I'd downvote" above since I did not really do that to all the answers I checked because of voting limits.}