Why -- a node?

• I'll downvote a node that's gratuitously abusive or offensive. Flames tend to qualify.
• I'll downvote a node that's glaringly wrong, if it's presented as The Right Way To Do It(tm). Especially if it's a topic that's been done to death (CGI, matching XML with regexes, validating email addresses, etc).
• I'll downvote a node that's immature -- whining about how little XP you're getting, abbrevs lik u r on IRC, |_075 0\/ |_3375P34|<, or lazy speling misteaks.

(I don't tend to downvote very much, though: I'd say that I spend one in every hundred votes on a --. If I voted -- more often, I'd probably have a more precise set of criteria.)

In particular, downvoting is a judgement call. So when you say:

I see node ratings go down, where a node is logical and pertinent to the website. I ask again: What reason is there to down vote such a node?

it's likely that the node's rep went down because someone else thought it illogical, off-topic, or otherwise unworthy. Everyone has different standards and different ideas of what PerlMonks should be, and I'd hate to see that heterogeny disappear.

One of your premises seems to be that new monks endure a lot of downvoting, and that a steady stream of initiates are driven from the site by cruel, elitist downvoters. In my experience, that just doesn't happen: most monks' early nodes have very few votes cast on them. A ++ here, a -- there. I don't think I got a node above 5 rep, or below -1, for at least a month. (Perhaps I'm just unremarkable.)

In general, I think that downvoting is less prevalent than you believe, that the strong nodes that merit upvotes tend to get them, and that the voting system as it stands is "good enough".

There are so many strong nodes, and I believe it is the responsibility of monks to promote these, instead of dwelling on nodes that they see as "not worth their points" (which I see as a part of a karma-oriented society. BAD.)

I see no evidence that monks are downvoting nodes that "aren't worth their reputation". If they were, Paco's one and only wouldn't be one of the Best Nodes of all time, by rep. Am I missing something?

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:wq