I've been active on several different SE sites during the last years and I haven't seen any other community that's so fast with downvoting questions, especially without providing helpful comments.
I am all for strict rules and enforcing high quality content. But with a small site like AI that still needs to polish its numbers after over 400 days in beta we should be careful not to go over the top.
In case a question is definitely off-topic or not salvageable quality wise, it needs to be treated accordingly and it should be closed. But when I come here I am often greeted by several new questions with just a few views but the first downvotes already. No explanations are given and (the often new) visitors are left with a bad feeling and no idea what they did wrong. When I go over their questions it is sometimes difficult for me to understand why they have been downvoted. I don't feel like that's the right approach to grow the site and attract new members.
Am I on the right track or do you disagree? Is a strict (and maybe a little hostile) environment necessary to keep the quality high, at the cost of losing potential members who might create valuable content if we give them feedback and time to get accustomed to our community?