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I have noticed that well-sourced and good questions get fewer votes compared to some "interesting" ones. For example, a one-liner question gets ~300 votes (the maximum number of upvotes for a question on this site) without the OP doing any efforts to research or even type the same thing on google (direct answers for this are available with just one search). It is, however, an interesting question, which is the reason for the upvotes.

Now there are posts with a good reference and source, but with < 5 upvotes. This one, for example. has only 3.

So, the question is, can we do something to encourage good questions with reliable sources? It feels unfair to see a one-line question with no source get appreciated while good questions with some effort on research get ignored.

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    $\begingroup$ A lot of the variation in voting is due to the "hot network questions" that show the question on the sidebar to people around the network, who then come and vote in huge numbers compared to the local population of regulars. Otherwise, all that can be done is for regular users to vote up the questions they like. $\endgroup$
    – Bryan Krause Mod
    Oct 19, 2020 at 14:18
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    $\begingroup$ And in turn: Vote down questions which are bad. This eventually ensures automatic deletion through the system when they are closed. $\endgroup$
    – Chris Mod
    Oct 19, 2020 at 16:51
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    $\begingroup$ I think this is a fundamental property of SE.biology. Unlike e.g. mathoverflow, we do not attract lots of professionals with detailed knowledge of the subject who can upvote well researched technical questions. Most people who frequent the site are people without much expertise in Biology and are mostly people from the public who are interested in things they see in real life. I don't see this changing in the future. $\endgroup$
    – user438383
    Oct 21, 2020 at 12:24
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    $\begingroup$ @user438383 I think that's true of the majority of people asking questions but there are a lot of regulars here who are quite accomplished biologists in their fields. Biology is huge, though, and no one is going to be an expert in everything. But yes I think Roland's answer at biology.meta.stackexchange.com/a/3441/27148 is still very valid today and likely will always be so. $\endgroup$
    – Bryan Krause Mod
    Oct 21, 2020 at 14:59
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    $\begingroup$ @Chris the problem with that suggestion is that it's really difficult to get questions closed unless they're a) egregiously bad and/or b) a mod steps in. I don't know if it's a lack of active users with close vote privileges, or apathy at the overwhelming volume of Google-able questions, or what, but it's a real issue. $\endgroup$
    – MattDMo
    Oct 22, 2020 at 19:06

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