2
$\begingroup$

There are several questions like this one, which have basic formatting issues. I'm not talking about formulas, which are not in MathJax, but rather

  • no punctuation (not the case in the linked question),
  • no capitalised letters.

Whenever I encounter a question/answer with such a basic formatting issue I just skip it. Still, the lack of effort (from the author) annoys me.

I know that feature requests are hard to implement. Still, I believe that each question/answer must have at least one capital letter and one question mark. If this criterion is not met, the question/answer should be rejected from submission and the author should be informed to improve the text.

I'm curious to read how you handle this issue. Maybe you could even provide me with a new perspective, so that these basic formatting issues do not annoy me anymore.

$\endgroup$
5
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ "the lag of effort annoys me" hmmm $\endgroup$
    – AccidentalFourierTransform
    Commented Feb 9, 2020 at 14:41
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Why not just downvote and move on? If possible explain it via comments. $\endgroup$
    – user249968
    Commented Feb 9, 2020 at 14:50
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @AccidentalFourierTransform Clearly Semoi means the delay ("lag") between the initial post and the effort to bring its formatting up to their standard --- which is irksome, especially when those efforts come from different people. The similarity with the cliché "lack of effort" is either a coincidence or a pun. The law of nature that any complaint about grammar, spelling, or punctuation must contain at least one new error in grammer, spelling, or punctuation is not in play here. $\endgroup$
    – rob Mod
    Commented Feb 9, 2020 at 15:38
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @rob: Unfortunately, the law of nature was in play here. I corrected it :) $\endgroup$
    – NotMe
    Commented Feb 9, 2020 at 16:25
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ I see that your question does not contain a question mark... ;) $\endgroup$
    – PM 2Ring
    Commented Feb 9, 2020 at 19:57

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
7
$\begingroup$

The primary way we influence behavior on Stack Exchange sites is by voting. If you think that a question's formatting makes it unclear or not useful, a downvote is appropriate.

If you have the energy to suggest fixes to such questions, whether as comments or as suggested edits, then by all means do! If you lack that energy, just move on to something else.

$\endgroup$
5
$\begingroup$

Badly phrased questions (or answers) - for whatever reason - should attract downvotes. I personally avoid editing such questions lest it could be perceived as implicitly encouraging poor postings.

The problem of impatience of some users who care not about correct presentation of their posts cannot be solved by mere mortals in a finite amount of time.

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

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