Content posted as an answer that doesn't actually answer the question at hand may be flagged "Not an Answer". Note *bad* answers are not eligible for this kind flag.
Post that doesn't actually answer the question at hand may be flagged "Not an Answer". It may be a followup question, a comment, or additional details from the asker posted as an answer. Bad answers are still answers and should be dealt with through voting and commenting rather than flagging.
- "Not an Answer" flag description, as displayed to Stack Overflow users:
This was posted as an answer, but it does not attempt to answer the question. It should possibly be an edit, a comment, another question, or deleted altogether.
- Detailed explanation for the intended use of "Not an Answer" flag, as given by Joel Spolsky in Proposed improvement to flagging, for answers:
Should have been a comment — this is not an answer, it is a comment on the question or on another answer.
Should have been an edit — this is not an answer, it is additional information about the question from the original asker.
Me-too! non-answer — this answer consists of nothing more than "Me too!" or "Did anyone find the answer?"
Conversational and irrelevant — this is not an answer, just a random conversation or rant, or meaningless typing that should be deleted.
See also:
related tag wiki:
'flags’ tag wiki
'convert-to-comment' tag wiki
'deleted-answers' tag wikiSeptember 2012 announcement about adjustment made to flag description:
Should the not-an-answer flag description be clarified?
