user7141: I asked this question and it has raised a good discussion among our friends and there were very good answers too. But it was down-voted unexpectedly.
I would like to know why so I can do better next time. And I know there is a similar question which was asked by me, even though it had good replies it also did not go where I wanted it to, and that's why I asked it in a different way, with some additional philosophical points that I struggled to understand.

Here is the question

Gender : Is it truly what it seems?


user157: A very fair meta question. I downvoted this question and I don't so a lot of downvoting really. For me I like to see questions that are to the point. If they are excessively verbose then I don't like them and don't think they are good questions. If I feel my attention waning halfway down then I feel my mouse point edging towards the down button arrow. Also I had a suspicion it was a duplicate question.
It is possible to have long questions that are great but I feel the same way about questions that I do about films. If you make a 3 hour film it's got to be pretty compelling and I'm always thinking - couldn't this be done in 90 mins. Similarly if you write a page for a question I think the question itself should be pretty amazing and insightful to justify that length. If not then edit it. 
Also as a moderator I can't cast close votes without that vote becoming binding. So when I am in the case where I think the question isn't great but I'm not sure about closing it then my only option is a comment to that effect and maybe a downvote.
That said I really appreciate your input and I hope you aren't discouraged with the downvoting. Perhaps a net score of -4 is a bit extreme. I've certainly seen a lot worse with far higher scores. I guess a lot of people didn't like it so I would be interested to see comments.

7141: <p>I asked this question and it has raised a good discussion among our friends and there were very good answers too. But it was down-voted unexpectedly.</p>

<p>I would like to know why so I can do better next time. And I know there is a similar question which was asked by me, even though it had good replies it also did not go where I wanted it to, and that's why I asked it in a different way, with some additional philosophical points that I struggled to understand.</p>

<hr>

<p>Here is the question</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><a href="https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/13687/gender-is-it-truly-what-it-seems">Gender : Is it truly what it seems?</a></p>
</blockquote>
 157: <p>A very fair meta question. I downvoted this question and I don't so a lot of downvoting really. For me I like to see questions that are to the point. If they are excessively verbose then I don't like them and don't think they are good questions. If I feel my attention waning halfway down then I feel my mouse point edging towards the down button arrow. Also I had a suspicion it was a duplicate question.</p>

<p>It is possible to have long questions that are great but I feel the same way about questions that I do about films. If you make a 3 hour film it's got to be pretty compelling and I'm always thinking - couldn't this be done in 90 mins. Similarly if you write a page for a question I think the question itself should be pretty amazing and insightful to justify that length. If not then edit it. </p>

<p>Also as a moderator I can't cast close votes without that vote becoming binding. So when I am in the case where I think the question isn't great but I'm not sure about closing it then my only option is a comment to that effect and maybe a downvote.</p>

<p>That said I really appreciate your input and I hope you aren't discouraged with the downvoting. Perhaps a net score of -4 is a bit extreme. I've certainly seen a lot worse with far higher scores. I guess a lot of people didn't like it so I would be interested to see comments.</p>
