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Is cis-1,2-dimethylcyclohexane a meso compound?

Today I had asked this question and also received an well-written answer for it by @orthocresol. I really couldn’t spot any trait in either the question or answer which deserves a downvote.

Can someone please point out the probable reason for the strange downvotes? Maybe I'm missing something?

P.S: Please note, I'm not requesting for reversal of the votes. I just want to know the reason so that I can take more care while asking and answering from next time.

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    $\begingroup$ I just want one more person to downvote me so that I can delete the answer and get a badge. $\endgroup$
    – orthocresol
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 16:50
  • $\begingroup$ @orthocresol Funny!You are asking for downvotes !What do you do with badges ? :-P Eat them ?(Seriously :-P) LOL :-D I never even saw what badges I have :-D Hehe xD $\endgroup$
    – user14857
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 16:55
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    $\begingroup$ You collect them, show them off, and hope that they win you a moderator election... $\endgroup$
    – orthocresol
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 16:59
  • $\begingroup$ @orthocresol ^_^ I too voted for you in the moderator elections :-)...hope you become the mod tomorrow!Good luck :-D $\endgroup$
    – user14857
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 17:10
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    $\begingroup$ To be fair, the answer is not quite of my usual standard. I typed it on mobile and obviously this doesn't allow me to create and upload ChemDraw images, which is not very useful especially when it comes to stereochemistry. If I have some time later I'll edit it. Both the Q and the A getting -2 is weird though, I must say. Worse stuff on here have gotten +5. $\endgroup$
    – orthocresol
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 17:13
  • $\begingroup$ @orthocresol Usual standard or not...I find it extremely strange!Hope someone points it out.Fingers crossed XD. BTW my question is of my usual standard and still it got -2.Damn!Anyway I'm off to sleep.Hope to get an answer tomorrow morning. $\endgroup$
    – user14857
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 17:15
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    $\begingroup$ No one can explain the downvotes other than the downvoters, ZOZ. And you're still not using correct spacing around punctuation marks. :( $\endgroup$
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 18:34
  • $\begingroup$ @orthocresol Sorry, but I just had to upvote the answer. (I also upvoted the question, so ZOZ also lost their chance for a peer pressure badge, if they were interested.) But of course, it would greatly benefit from a beautiful ChemDraw picture ;) $\endgroup$
    – Jan
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 22:11
  • $\begingroup$ @Rubisco I used correct spacing in the question. For the comments I did'nt use. But I'm gradually adapting. See my newest question for example. BTW I think i'll be able to do it soon, subconsciously. Thank you for the reminder. $\endgroup$
    – user14857
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 3:12
  • $\begingroup$ @orthocresol If the answer is accepted you cannot delete it. You would not have gotten the badge here. $\endgroup$
    – Martin - マーチン Mod
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 7:40
  • $\begingroup$ @Martin-マーチン Actually the answer was not accepted at that time :-) when I commented! $\endgroup$
    – user14857
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 7:58

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I can only reiterate what has been said in the comments. I have absolutely no explanation for those downvotes. The downvoters (on these specific posts, in this specific case!) should declare why they voted down the question. In my opinion it is a good question because:

  • it shows how it is an actual problem you ran in to
  • you show your thoughts and ideas on how to understand/rationalise the fact
  • you provide clear pictures and point out where your confusion still lies
  • it is phrased in readable English and only contains one question mark per sentence

In fact, I just read it and upvoted it. Similarly for the answer. It is not quite up to par with orthocresol’s usual answers — yet. I believe that we won’t have to wait long for a nicely drawn scheme explaining the fact better to turn up. Of course, it could still highlight that an inverting compound is not actually a meso compound and whatnot, but also that answer deserves upvotes. Hence I upvoted it.

I find it sad that at present my single upvotes are struggling against three question and two answer downvotes!

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  • $\begingroup$ See my comment in the OP in re: my reason for the down-vote. I have since reversed my vote on the question and, although I had not down-voted the answer, up-voted that one too. $\endgroup$
    – Todd Minehardt
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 22:35
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    $\begingroup$ @ToddMinehardt +1 for being both quick to vote and quick to reverse! $\endgroup$
    – Jan
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 22:39
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    $\begingroup$ I fully agree with your analysis of the answer and the question. Nevertheless, I have downvoted this answer. I disagree with your demand that a downvote should be justified by the voter. The reputation levels for upvotes an downvotes are 15 and 125, resp. As a result, people can upvote within a short period of time. Did we ever ask them to justify their upvotes? In the past, I've seen typical slacker questions attracting upvotes, and the only reason for the voter most likely was "I don't know either and I'm too lazy to run a cursory search myself". $\endgroup$
    – Klaus-Dieter Warzecha
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 6:42
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    $\begingroup$ Is there a solution to this "problem"? We could think about rising the levels: No downvotes unless you reach a reputation of 1000 or above. I doubt that this will change a alot. People will still vote for other than scientific reasons, holding a grudge against somebody or having a crush on somebody else. My suggestion on how to react on votes is: Get over it and take it like a man. That is, unless you're a woman ;) $\endgroup$
    – Klaus-Dieter Warzecha
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 6:47
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    $\begingroup$ @Klaus I have to admit I can't see where you are going with this. $\endgroup$
    – Martin - マーチン Mod
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 7:39
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    $\begingroup$ @Martin-マーチン The demand for justification of downvotes is a recurring issue. Hardly anybody requests clarification why a question or answer was upvoted. We just enjoy it ;-) People do vote and we're glad they do! Sometimes, votes are casted for intellectual reasons, sometimes people are just driven by emotions. Over time, the system wins and cuts off the rough edges (serial upvotes by sock puppets or clans, serial revenge downvotes). My suggestion is simple: Lean back and enjoy Chem.SE. With more reputation, inner peace comes and you just don't care about downvotes ;-) $\endgroup$
    – Klaus-Dieter Warzecha
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 8:12
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    $\begingroup$ @Klaus youtube.com/watch?v=8lAKfUD169U $\endgroup$
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 14:53
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    $\begingroup$ No @ZOZ. You are expected to explain when you tell me that I disgust you, but that's not what a downvote conveys, or is supposed to convey. Do you ever justify your votes in an election? No one has any responsibility to explain the downvotes they cast. This, however, doesn't mean that the people that do so are not doing a good thing. $\endgroup$
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 14:55
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    $\begingroup$ @ZOZ I believe I've been doing this for a bit longer than you, and understand this system a bit better than you. There are more than a few thousand posts out there in Meta Stack Exchange and meta.SO that explain why votes are anonymous, and hence why no one is made to explain their downvote. I guess I should've stopped trying to help you understand it either, when you resort to name-calling this soon. $\endgroup$
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 15:10
  • $\begingroup$ @Rubisco BTW you must have seen the accepted answer to this too :-) . No one can force you explain. But Stack Exchange urges you to do so. Your choice. Goodbye. meta.stackexchange.com/questions/135/… $\endgroup$
    – user14857
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 15:29
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    $\begingroup$ @ZOZ Oh well, we're good then. What me and Klaus were saying wasn't that we shouldn't explain our downvotes. Just that we're not expected to. Explaining downvotes is a good thing, but if you don't do it, you won't become the villain. That's our point, and that's the point echoed in that question and the numerous duplicates linked to it. $\endgroup$
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 15:37
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    $\begingroup$ @ZOZ It's got nothing to do with politeness. It just shows eagerness to teach people the ropes. Sadly, not everyone takes feedback well. People tend to downvote the commenters, assuming they were the downvoters, and hence usually discouraging the downvoters from further commentary in the future. Fortunately, that's not such a big problem on our site, but it might as this community gets larger. TL;DR; don't assume that since you respond well to feedback, others will as well. $\endgroup$
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 16:28
  • $\begingroup$ Now we're back to square one. You can come to Chemistry Chat if you want us to discuss it further. I don't want to clog this comment thread. We've been pinging Jan enough already. $\endgroup$
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 16:37
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    $\begingroup$ @Jan No worries, I was about to cite the same source when I refered to the ladder of privileges. I do see your point, and I'm fine with comments when given. However, I do prefer a free and anonymous system, where each community member can express agreement (or disagreement) without explanations. Some egos might get hurt and soemtimes, you ask yourself why a contribution was up- or downvoted, but supposed that enough people vote, the system will follow the rule of large numbers and work out well. We just have to remind people to vote more often and/or give a good example. $\endgroup$
    – Klaus-Dieter Warzecha
    Commented Oct 19, 2016 at 9:50
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    $\begingroup$ @KlausWarzecha Yes exactly that ^^. $\endgroup$
    – Jan
    Commented Oct 19, 2016 at 10:01

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