Help improving a downvoted question?

Question

I posted the following question and answer:

How do I set the clock on a Thermador CT227N or CT227NW oven?

But it has gotten two down votes with no explaination as to how to improve it. Before posting I searched and found other questions asking how to set the clock on devices which were up voted, so I thought it was on topic, so I'm a bit stumped as to what the issue is given the silence. Further, I think it comes under this FAQ area:

Installation, maintenance, and repair of major appliances.

Please assist in improving this question.

Answer 1

This is a grey area on the site and perhaps one we should have been clearer on from the outset. All sites must have borderline questions and there will always be discussions about which side of the border questions lie.

It could be that people are interpreting the "installation" part to mean just the physical installation and not the setup of the appliance once it's in place.

The other thing to consider is that you self answered. Now this has always been allowed and is now even encouraged, but some people might not see you question and answer that way.

People are only encouraged to explain down-votes if they have less than 2,000 reputation.

All this is to say I don't know what can be done to improve your question, but hopefully this will go some way to explain why it attracted down-votes.

Answer 2

In addition to what ChrisF mentions, there are two other considerations:

• The question is very localized and it's unlikely that someone else with this same model will come here rather than finding the solution in the product manual or on the vendor's website.

• I hate to say it, but the hats may have something to do with it. People are getting a hat for down voting a question, so once they see one person down vote, others may join in for the hat.

I wouldn't fret over the self answer. However, for future questions, you'll get more upvotes if more people think that your question could help them.