Ask a simple question
I asked on Stack Overflow why i++ followed by ++i would compile but ++i++ would not compile under C#. When I saw the answer it was obvious why it was a simple question. I hadn't spent very long thinking about it and breaking the problem down.
What I found interesting though was that the question was immediately voted down and had a -2 vote after a few minutes. I checked again an hour later and it was back to zero.
I originally titled this post as "ask a stupid question" before realizing that the question wasn't stupid but one that many programmers could have. It was well answered and I am the wiser for it and I hope someone else is as well.
Based on this micro analysis, I wonder if Stack Overflow has a few elitist members who are fast to the draw and vote down anything that's a simple-to-solve problem.