If you are wondering what that picture is, it's a fiddlehead. Please leave a comment when down voting my answers so I can improve them.

I usually try to make a complete answer. I also try to infer the intent of the question when it is unclear. This is in line with my philosophy of "no such thing as stupid questions". Sometimes, I infer incorrectly. Just post a comment to let me know.

I will sometimes give an answer as an alternative to the consensus, just to balance discussion. I have been dinged for this, but I don't think I will change (much) on this point. I will throw out an answer which will do what the OP asked for, albeit not always in the most ideal way.

I will up vote answers that I think are superior to mine.
I will up vote each question that chooses my answer as best.
I will up vote a question that has an answer that I was compelled to up vote.
I will never down vote a question or answer (except by accident, which I will undo).

I may vote to close a question if I am convinced answering it will not add any new knowledge. - It is not always clear that just because a question has been duplicated that new answers could not add new information. Operating systems add new calls, languages add new features, new techniques get developed, etc. Old questions rarely get revisited and best answers changed. Repeating questions might be a better way to bring more relevant answers to the forefront. Old questions/answers would then be obsoleted by the new ones (instead of closing the re-asked question).

I'll add more doctrines as I acquire more privileges.

Please help me improve my downvoted answers (feel free to downvote if you wish, but please leave a comment to help me improve the answer):
Is it possible to swap C function pointers?
Efficiently computing date/time stamp for logging purposes on unix/win32
Ignore “taking address of temporary” error
Improve on a 13-parameter constructor

The cynical point of view is that I am trying to drum up support for these answers. However, note that by showing all my downvoted answers, I am highlighting my weakest contributions to StackOverflow, which is why I want help in improving them.