Yesterday, i was helping a guy out on StackOverflow with some JavaScript issues.
The question was
If n++ and n += 1 are the same, then why does the following give different results in nodejs:
a = 1; b = 10; while (a < b) { console.log(a); a++ }
a = 1; b = 10; while (a < b) { console.log(a); a+=1 }
The OP received 7 downvotes in about 10 seconds, all saying "this code is exactly the same, you must have mis-typed it wrong".
But the OP wasn't wrong. There is a difference between a++ and a+=1. ++ returns the value before the increment. +=1 returns a value after the +1. However, since no one ever does c = a++
or c = a+=1
, very few people actually come across this issue.
I added my upvote to the OPs question, putting them at a healthy -6, then gave the solution, and immediately recevied 3 downvotes all along the lines of "wrong."
StackOverflow is a toxic community. In fact pretty much all of StackExchange is. Even the owners say they hate what it has become, and it's all because of stupid downvotes. When you have downvotes, you provide people with hate in their hearts an API to access your community.
OK not funny guys

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modified 2.3 years ago
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written
2.3 years ago by
John ♦ 12k
I missed this thread, in a nutshell we don't have down-votes because down-votes are almost never used the way that they are supposed to be used.
The answers in this thread summarize the rationale.