###What did you do?

I made a free thing.

http://idownvotedyoubecause.com/

It's not specifically targeted at Stack Overflow, or at the other Stack Exchange websites, but I made the thing because I wanted to use it on Stack Overflow. I'm posting it here because you can use it on SO, as well as every other SE site that exists or may exist in future. Ooh.

###What is this free thing?

It is essentially a quick and dirty way to give other users detailed information on why their posts suck and what they can do to improve them. But in a nice way. And, while I love a bit of rough play (no, that wasn't creepy), I do want this to be a useful, gentile way to guide people to stop sucking.

###How does this free thing work?

Simply put, you paste a URL in a comment on a post you have downvoted (I'll trust you). The URL points to a page of the website that contains detailed information about why you downvoted:

• What the user did
• Why this is something worth a downvote
• What the user can do to fix the problem
• Instructions on how they can gather information and update their post

Simply drop the URL of one of the site's pages that match your downvote reason into a comment.

###How is this even possible?

What, it's just a website. Nothing revolutionary going on here.

OH. You mean "how is it even possible you could already cover every single reason to downvote, along with all the detailed info to fix the situation, for every website on the internets that has downvotes"? Well, I'll tell you. The website is hosted on GitHub.io, backed by a GitHub repository. The idea is that, through collaborative editing, a nice healthy selection of pages may be accumulated over time.

###How would that work?

In simplest form, someone wishing to add a downvote reason could create an issue in the repository with details about the page they want to add

• Community name
• Community abbreviation, if it doesn't exist (e.g., SO => Stack Overflow)
• Page URL (PascalCased, to the point)
• Answers to the following questions:
  • What did the user do
  • Why is that worthy of a downvote
  • What can be done to fix this
  • Any additional relevant details about any of the above

Given as much of this as the person is willing to give, I'll do my best to create the page and add it to the running list within a reasonable period of time (EOWD, when I'm at the bar, or something).

Alternatively, users could simply fork the repository, make all the edits they want themselves, then submit a pull request. This one's for the perfectionists, I think.

Realistically (as in, what will probably happen unlike the above two options), I'll be the one adding new stuff as I downvote my way through Stack Overflow. In fact, that's why I finally dusted off this ol' domain name I bought a year or so ago and hooked it to a GitHub repository. I'm tired of people and their images of exceptions. I want to tell these folks why they should crawl into a burning barrel of pitch, but I restrained myself and whipped up the following (in between debugging the slowest-to-execute unit tests in the world):

http://idownvotedyoubecause.com/ImageOfAnException

I'm using one of their default themes, but I'd love to snaz it up a bit. Make a subtle yet engaging theme for the downvote pages, maybe. Highlight the content and only the content. The current version stinks like a pig's head at a debauched party attended by a former British PM. I'm sorry, I've got some stuff on in the background and I think it's leaked in a bit.

Anyhow, if you like, please use. Got an idea? Issue an Issue or fork me then ask me for a pull.