7

Can someone explain to me why my answer in this thread Generating rectangle centered by point in QGIS got that highly ranked?

I am not mad, but honestly saying, I did not use any magic, I did not apply programming or whatever else, I did not show tremendous research on this particular topic, but somehow up till now I got +135 of reputation. I simply used a trivial searching in the QGIS's Processing Toolbox, that is all, nothing more.

By any means I am super happy with such honor and achievement, nevertheless I feel ashamed when comparing my attempt with answers of other users when they are writing almost a dissertation for a certain problem/issue and getting just several upvotes...is it the KISS principle?

4
  • I think it happened to hit the "hot network questions" list so it got more attention than usual
    – Ian Turton Mod
    Sep 10, 2020 at 9:24
  • @Taras You may be able to see that it became HNQ at gis.stackexchange.com/posts/373626/timeline I'm not sure if you need a particular privilege to see that link.
    – PolyGeo Mod
    Sep 10, 2020 at 9:46
  • Yes I can see that it became a HNQ
    – Taras
    Sep 10, 2020 at 9:48
  • 7
    I think the main reason is: your answer is short. That means everyone just taking a short look at it and having expertise on the topic can confirm your answer is useful without having to check things or read a lot of text. Then they give an upvote. If you have to check things first or read a lot, you may have no time for or dont want to read all of it, people just dont vote at all.
    – MrXsquared
    Sep 10, 2020 at 16:07

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
9

Can someone explain to me why my answer got that highly ranked?

Besides becoming a HNQ (see here), people evaluated your answer as useful.

enter image description here

Research effort is only one variable among other which is determinant for usefulness. Simple as that.

1
  • 1
    Thank you for your simplicity =)
    – Taras
    Sep 25, 2020 at 7:35
4

In addition to the HNQ prominence, I think people (myself included) tend to hit the "this answer is useful" selfishly rather than altruistically. It would be appropriate to click that up arrow anytime one feels, as an impartial reviewer, that the answer is well-written and answers the question posed well. But we're more likely to do so if we selfishly feel, "Oh, I didn't know that. I can see that being useful to me and I'll try to remember it."

We all know by this time that most anything in QGIS can be achieved with a smart expression in a data-driven override for something else or other, or with a carefully written snippet of PyQGIS. If I'm browsing questions and answers, I (and I suspect others) are just less likely to get excited enough by that kind of answer, no matter how well thought out, than by a "gee whiz, I didn't realize it's that easy" one.

Your meta question here is a good reminder to all of us to use that up arrow less selfishly, and more as it was intended!

2
  • Thank you, I liked your answer. Can you tell me please what do you actually means by "to use that up arrow less selfishly"? Do you mean using the upvote more often or rarely?
    – Taras
    Sep 22, 2020 at 12:04
  • 2
    @Taras, probably more often, but especially for different reasons: "This is a good answer to the question posed" rather than "I personally have learned something from this answer relevant to my current or future needs" (which will be biased to short answers that are easy to remember)
    – Houska
    Sep 22, 2020 at 12:07

You must log in to answer this question.

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