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I've been met with the message You have reached your question limit and clicking the link explain that the site won't accept questions from my account anymore. This was a shock.

I've checked the reputation and I've been gaining (although at a very low pace, since I don't come here very often). I also asked my latest question on meta to make sure that it wouldn't be negatively received.

Not sure what or even if I've done something inappropriate. Pretty sure it doesn't feel good nor expected...

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  • did you check if you have deleted questions?
    – gnat
    Apr 23, 2016 at 12:58
  • Yes, one. And it's been a while it was asked - since then, I've asked new questions (+1 score on it). This doesn't make sense to me. Apr 23, 2016 at 16:03
  • 1
    moderator says you have five deleted questions. And another moderator in comments says you were warned about possible block three times. This makes perfect sense to me
    – gnat
    Apr 23, 2016 at 19:59
  • @gnat To the best of my recollection I haven't seen those. Once, I remember, there was this screen suggesting that I'm more careful. After that, I only asked a single question and prior to that I asked on meta if it was all right to ask it. So I'd say that I exhibited consideration and self-criticism. After that, suddenly - poof! I'm active on SO and ELL as well as other sites. It's kind of evident that the algorithm is flawed and defeating its purpose. Sadly... Thanks for the attempt to explain, anyway. Happy coding. Apr 26, 2016 at 19:43
  • currently question timelines show entries "user posted after being shown a quality ban warning" to regular users. From what I see, warnings were shown to you on Feb 21, Mar 23 and Apr 1
    – gnat
    Apr 26, 2016 at 20:21
  • @gnat I see where you're coming from. However, it's incorrect information. I haven't seen those (except the one I mentioned before, after which I made sure to ask on Meta first and also got +1). But I what the decision is based on. It's flawed, in view, and not in the best interest of the community but that's how it works, I guess. What can I do about it in practical terms? (I'm not going to register a fake account but I might want to contribute in the future despite the situation.) Apr 26, 2016 at 20:35
  • this is explained in details in this guidance: What can I do when getting “We are no longer accepting questions/answers from this account”?
    – gnat
    Apr 26, 2016 at 21:30
  • ...forgot to mention, yet another option is to delete your account, then re-create it and restart at the rate of one question a week. It is explained here if you're interested in details. Can't tell if it will help if you already deleted and re-created in the past, but for the first time it should probably work
    – gnat
    Apr 27, 2016 at 6:22
  • @gnat Thanks for the link. I've read it and to be honest, it's formulated in terms of that it's that the user's fault so I can't see how it's applicable in my case. I can't really undo the faults of mine as they're not really there. I can't improve/remove the deleted posts, can't make new ones etc. Frankly speaking, the suggestions are more for users that don't formulate well, ask incoherently etc. Kind of far from my posts. I still claim that the site's recognition algorithm is faulty and that we're too trusting as of its appropriateness. Apr 27, 2016 at 11:03
  • @gnat Is there anything that I can do apart from deleting my account? The content of the link provided is that I should correct the answers already in the system (those I can access are +1 already). I'm confused. Apr 27, 2016 at 11:05
  • technically, nothing stops you from improving your deleted posts now that moderator provided links to all of them. You just draft (offline) the new revision of the post (that addresses issues described in close banner and doesn't invalidate existing answers if there are any), flag for moderator to undelete (referring eg to this meta discussion) and after undelete edit your new revision over it and wait for community feedback on the edited question. If you believe you can improve past poorly received questions, this is the way to go
    – gnat
    Apr 27, 2016 at 11:55
  • @gnat Finally we're getting somewhere. I reviewed two of the most downvoted ones: first and second and now I'm not sure how to proceed. The latter was asked based on the belief that Angular's a bit of default. That question needs to be deleted not undeleted. How should I proceed? Apr 27, 2016 at 18:54
  • @gnat As for the first one, I've read it through over and over again and honestly speaking, I got confused because the only way I can see it being downvoted is that the users believe that I was fishing for assignments or something like that. The question is legit, got a good answer, helped an organization that I've found. Please help me understand what's to be improved there. The comment to it (one by you, actually) is generic and seem to be missing the actual point. I'm not accusing anybody but we all might behoove if the moderators put in a bit more effort before closing. This is too sloppy. Apr 27, 2016 at 18:58
  • it looks troublesome if you want to try improving all questions at once. Pick one that looks most salvageable to you and run "full round" with it - draft an improved version, flag to undelete, edit, wait for feedback. If it helps, great you can try next one (or if you're lucky maybe even improving this one will suffice to pull you off the ban). if not, it's likely no sense in trying less promising questions
    – gnat
    Apr 27, 2016 at 18:58

2 Answers 2

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The blocking system is automated, but it doesn't look odd to me.

From the Help Center:

The exact formula for the bans is not disclosed, but users are only banned if they have a significant number of heavily down-voted, zero-voted, or deleted posts. One or two bad posts will not cause you to be blocked from using the site.

According to your profile, you have asked a total of 10 questions on Programmers. Of those 10 questions, 5 have a net negative score (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), 1 has a net 0 score (1), 4 are closed (1, 2, 3, 4), and 5 are deleted (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). It seems like that's enough to trigger the block.

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  • Are we looking at the same profile? I can see 5 questions, one of which is closed (zero net score) and the rest are +1 each, none of them closed. Would you be a sport and explain to me where to look to get the info you've seen. I'll post a screen in the question to show you what I see. Apr 23, 2016 at 16:00
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    @KonradViltersten I've added links to your profile page as well as each of the questions in the categories that are known to contribute to the automatic block. I'm not sure why your profile is showing what it is. It definitely isn't intuitive if you aren't able to easily see all of your posts, especially when they are contributing to a question block. As a moderator, I'm seeing all of this on your profile page. The deleted questions I've linked to should be visible to you and any user with 10k reputation.
    – Thomas Owens Mod
    Apr 23, 2016 at 16:08
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    @ThomasOwens current "party line" wrt showing deleted posts to their authors is explained here
    – gnat
    Apr 23, 2016 at 18:02
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    There were three prior warnings during which most of these questions were still visible, @thomas. At some point, this just becomes false hope: crucially, unless you can undelete the questions, seeing them is just taunting.
    – Shog9
    Apr 23, 2016 at 18:47
  • @Shog9 I haven't seen any warnings (except the one I've mentioned in my comment to Gnat), if that's what is meant by "warning". I'd like to open for the possibility that the secret algorithm is a bit flawed. If we assume that my track record on other sites is comparable to my intentions here, it's just plain wrong. Luckily I'm not that active here, so the loss is negligible (except the blow to the pride). Nevertheless, we should consider the possibility that the attempt to stop bad posts went a bit too far. Apr 26, 2016 at 19:47
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ThomasOwens addressed the reason for the temporary question ban. I would like to address the reason for the reason, that is, why your previous questions led to the current situation.

Note that deleted questions are only visible to moderators, 10k users, or the user who asked them.

Is it wise to invest in Angular 2? (deleted)

Rightly closed as primarily opinion-based and deleted. This is speculation that cannot be answered objectively.

How common is it to get unpaid but skilled labor? (deleted)

Invites discussion (not answers), essentially asks for career advice which is off-topic.

Explaning to newbies that sometimes “it works” isn't “it works well” (deleted)

Asks for advice on how to deal with coworker situations. Off-topic and subjective.

What does the $-operator mean (C# and EF context) for strings? (deleted)

Asked on the wrong site, self-deleted.

Using VS12 to create and manage an Azure-SQL DB (simple tasks) (deleted)

Asks for a software tool which is explicitly off-topic per our help center.

Does TFS have the capacity equivalent of branching/forking in Git?

Okay question about source control. Probably better-suited for Stack Overflow because it is asking about source control software, not strategy, but I wouldn't close it.

How to motivate adaptive an shifting class access modifiers

On-topic, but probably a duplicate. It is also a bit verbose.

How to store sensitive information (e.g. clients' credentials) accessibly for everybody inside?

On-topic question about software process.

Relation between projects and solutions in VS

On-topic, but on the verge of being too broad. Still, it is about software organization and development processes so definitely on-topic and rightly does not have any downvotes.

Automatic code snippets in VS 12 (closed)

Asks for help configuring a software tool. With more details it might be acceptable at Stack Overflow.


Now for the important part: constructive feedback. Once you are able to ask questions again, I would focus on these items:

  • I see a few "soft" questions asking about opinion or how to convince a teammate about something. These questions are off-topic, unsalvageable, and unfortunately for you are simply not a good fit here.

  • Questions that belong at Stack Overflow. Some people have a difficult time understanding just where the line is between the two sites. I agree it can be a bit blurry at times, and it is fine if you post incorrectly but in the gray area. We can fix that.

    Which computer science / programming Stack Exchange do I post in?

    What are the differences between Stack Overflow, Programmers, and Code Review?

  • A small number of off-topic questions that simply fall into one of the off-topic categories in the help center.

    Why was my question closed or down voted?

  • Several of your questions are very verbose. Try to focus on one thing, choose your words carefully, and describe the problem fully but in less space. This will help encourage us to read the question more fully, understand what it is asking, and hopefully upvote it. If the question needs improvement, it makes it easier for us to edit it.

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