6

Recently, I posted a question that seems quite good and valid from a Jehovah Witness’ standpoint (Was Jesus a separate god?). It (almost) immediately got a -1 vote.

The question was worded, I believe, in a way that fits very strictly within the confines of what a good question would be for this site. (Specifically, it's a sideways question about interpretation of the bible.)

Here's the meta question that follows this question:

How do we prevent the majority users from downvoting and closing questions that they don't agree with purely on the basis that they don't agree with the standpoint that the asker has?

3
  • 3
    A related question is: "How do we prevent answers from being voted on purely on the basis of whether or not the voter agrees with the doctrine or interpretation presented?"
    – user72
    Aug 23, 2011 at 21:38
  • 2
    @Richard - I think part of the issue is that you did not specify that the question was related to the Jehova's Witness sect, which in some regards holds radically different beliefs from the majority of other Christians in the world. See this Meta thread, which I believe was inspired by your question: meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/44/…
    – Iszi
    Aug 23, 2011 at 23:46
  • Thanks for the link. Good thread. I'll start doing that.
    – Richard
    Aug 24, 2011 at 0:20

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
6

How do we prevent the majority users from downvoting and closing questions that they don't agree with purely on the basis that they don't agree with the standpoint that the asker has?

You don't. You can't. If a majority of users feel a question is of poor quality because of the subject and down-vote accordingly, or off-topic and close as a result, this is - by and large - their prerogative.

OTOH, you can go a long way towards minimizing this by simply stating up-front where you're coming from with your question. In this specific case, there was a bit of confusion initially because, while you linked to the translation you used, you didn't explicitly call it out (or tag the question accordingly). A bit of preliminary research would have shown you that the passage in question is usually translated into a rather different form, and prompted you to note this in your question.

If this site is to succeed, it will need to do so with the understanding of its users that questions from different sects will be asked and asked from the point of view of someone in that sect.

1

It's a good pertinent question, I would not downvote.

Although, I'd hope from my standpoint I'd be able to ask the same question to help me answer anyone who came to my door repeating some 1800 year old heresy.

You must log in to answer this question.

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