Why do people give thumbs down to answers that are pretty decent?

Question

Why, when reading peoples answers do I see so many thumbs down to what seems like a decent answer to the question ? Just to try to make their answer look better ? Or is it just to be mean ? So, why do you personally give thumbs down if you do?

Answer 1

i think they do it to make themselves look better. the only time I give a thumbs down is if the person is just being rude or otherwise obnoxious in their answer. Personally I think it's pretty dumb to do.

Answer 2

A lot of times people will give a thumbs down to a religious answer with which they disagree, or a political answer with which they disagree. That's all a thumbs down means in this case- a disagreement.

I give a thumbs down to an answer which is factually incorrect. I do this ESPECIALLY if it would look correct if you didn't study that subject. If the answer is vulgar or offensive, I don't give it a thumbs down because everybody with half a brain can SEE that it's a bad answer. They don't need me to tell them. If the question is still open for answers, I will give the right answer, with sources. Otherwise, I will give a thumbs up to the answer that actually was closest to correct.

Answer 3

It is a sign of personal disagreement usually. If I state I am Buddhist I get a lot of thumbs down. I give thumbs up mostly if an answer is correct. Why bother on thumbs down? If the answer is mean I might thumb down it.

Answer 4

There are many uneducated people in the world. Yahoo answers is a place to try to find an answer to your question. Unless it answered by an uneducated person. The more uneducated people you have saying the same thing the harder it is to find a good true answer. Thus, everyone knows majority rules, so something that goes against the grain is look down upon.

A nifty eperiment:
Go to society &culture>religion
Ask" Who is your saviour?"
Most of your answers will be,Jesus, Jesus Christ,Jesus Christ the son of God.
some one might say" the Sun which gives everlasting"
That will be your answer which is looked down upon because it doesn't make sense to someones education

Answer 5

I only give a thumbs down if an answer is really really stupid or isnt an answer at all. many times, especially in the political category you will get thumbs down from those that simply dont agree with you rather than because of the quality of the question.

Answer 6

I only give a thumbs down if answer don't go with the question.

Answer 7

Old Chinese saying: opinion like an @ssho%e - everyone has one!

I think the Yahoo Answers Team has done a great job by keeping everything so transparent and above board.

It would be unfair to point to some decisions and base an opinion on them - a vast majority are judged on overall merit and look good to me.

Nothing beats the ultimate thrill of your reply being adjudged the 'Best Answer'! Keep at it and don't be disillusioned - trust me, you're doing just great by sparing time to come to such forums and sharing your knowledge.

Answer 8

I don't hesitate to give the thumbs down to answers that are so full of grammatical errors that they are unreadable, comments unrelated the question (and usually only related to the answerer's own bigoted point of view) and people who put wrong or ignorant offensive answers. If no one did any of the above things, it wouldn't be a problem would it?

Answer 9

Most people give a thumbs down if they don`t agree with the answer or if they know it is wrong. I will also give a thumbs down if I find the answer offensive.

Answer 10

Personally I give a thumbs down when there is an actual factual error in an answer that may seem otherwise correct.