My question is motivated by this answer by a new user: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/244573/137989. A score of -3 seems like a great way to drive away new users; how did this happen?
Naturally, we start with the Help Center: How do I write a good answer? Did this answer break any of the rules listed here? No. The post did answer the question. It did a poor job of citing its source, but the Help Center says:
Brevity is acceptable, but fuller explanations are better.
This help page seems to be a generic Stack Exchange help page. It does not include advice specific to this site, like: include quotes or links to primary sources. Now we might be getting somewhere. Indeed, the answer also has a similar comment (by Boolean):
Hi Louis Thompson, welcome to the Science Fiction & Fantasy stackexchange! Do you think you could add any quotes to back up what you have said? (This could be a direct extract from the book or a page/chapter reference.)
So is this indeed the reason for the downvotes? And, if so, why is this information not provided before the user posts an answer? I had to specifically search for this information after coming across this answer. I typed a bit into the answer box to see if any helpful messages would appear, but none did.
