Conventions on Downvoting

Question

I'd like to link to conventions on downvoting in CSTheory, which Kaveh distilled from a town hall meeting, and which I largely agree with. I'm not saying the conventions here need to be the same, but I think this is a discussion and a decision that should happen sooner as opposed to later.

I am motivated to post this because I recently asked a question that has several upvotes and at least two downvotes. The downvoters did not give any reason for downvoting, and I have no idea whether there was some technical issue with my presentation, or if they thought the question was off-topic for the site, or some other reason.

Also, I think downvoting without commenting in private beta makes no sense. To set the stage for the public unveiling of the site, shouldn't people asking questions receive as much direction as possible about what is and is not appropriate?

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Comments

I'd just add that on meta things are different: your vote is taken to reflect your opinion on something (i.e. layout, policies, etc.), and so the same explanation is often not warranted.

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"I think downvoting without commenting in private beta makes no sense" - Completely agree!

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