The comparison I was aiming for is that the begger on the street is doing a disservice to society so begging on the street should be discouraged, but the person that gives the begger a few dollars is just being generous and generosity should not be discouraged.

Likewise, begging for code is not appropriate and should be discouraged by giving the question a negative score. But if someone feels moved to respond with code or a very complete answer then that's generous and should not be discouraged.



I agree that some people are too sensitive about their karma score. I'd tell them not to worry about it except for the fact that karma was used by one user for revenge and that certain scoring options are being used for purposes for which they weren't designed (scoring "gimme code" to someone that is providing code). Just like you were baffled when your personal experience was scored "-1 Wrong Answer" others are equally baffled when they share code and are scored with "-1 Gimme code." Neither score is appropriate in their respective contexts.



That could be done. Or "Wrong Answer" could require that a reason be provided every time. Then when you see a "Wrong Answer" score you'd click on a link to see a list of the reason(s) that were given for that message being wrong.

Regards,
Craig Steiner
8052.com Webmaster