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I am trying to post an answer to a question (in the Android forum), but I am getting this error. Is it because I am a new user? I have pasted the error below.

Oops! Your answer couldn't be submitted because:

  • Sorry, we are no longer accepting answers from this account. See http://goo.gl/C1Kwu to learn more.
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    Did you read the link in the message which explains the error?
    – user149432
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 21:15
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    @Mark though to be fair, that link specifies that it applies to questions and not answers but I bet it's the same mechanism in effect.
    – Daniel DiPaolo
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 21:24
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    If you provide a link to the user account you use to post your answers, we might be able to help you understand what is wrong. If you post a lot of answers that are getting downvoted, you will be blocked from adding new answers.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 21:36
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    Perhaps it's time to open up a new Meta FAQ entry, "What can I do when getting 'Sorry, we are no longer accepting answers from this account'?"?
    – Pops
    Commented May 12, 2011 at 14:58
  • Hello, I've also just got banned for a similar reason. I wouldn't mind knowing why, or how to get this ban reversed. I am a legitamate contributor to StackOverflow and my answers are always helpful, constructive and to the point. However, I linked to two external libraries (one which I have developed, another I have not) in multiple posts as legitamate answers to questions and now my account is suspended. Big shame really! I'm trying to get started on SO and to do so, an easy way is to post on the many similar questions answers that you know well.
    – Dr. Andrew Burnett-Thompson
    Commented Dec 23, 2011 at 13:45
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    Forum? I think you've gotten to the root of the problem. Your account is blocked from answering questions due to a history of very low quality answers. In fact, despite warnings that you can't dismiss saying Make sure you post an answer to this question, all of your answer say 'Me too, did you find a solution?'. They were deleted, and that triggered a ban. I'm sorry, we can't help you anymore.
    – user50049
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 20:15
  • @AndrewBurnett-Thompson If one answer fits several questions, then let us know what the best question is by flagging the others as duplicates. If you post the same answer on three questions, and they are ultimately merged, that's a problem. Additionally, links to a library in several questions smell like SPAM to the people that keep one of the most frequented sites (mostly) SPAM free. I think the link to the FAQ should blink.
    – user50049
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 20:30
  • @PopularDemand Probably worth creating. If you feel like writing it I'll FAQ it and ask for the link to point appropriately.
    – user50049
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 20:32
  • @TimPost the answer ban link is the same as the question ban link. I wonder if we should just modify the existing question ban FAQ entry to address both situations. I'm actually not sure what differences exist between the two.
    – Pops
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 20:39
  • @PopularDemand The answer ban implies that someone circumvented every effort we mad to ensure that never happened to them, so I think perhaps it deserves another FAQ. Open SO in incognito and answer something, you'll see what I mean. The question prompts point allude to stuff that people need to spend some time reading, but seriously, a short paragraph in a modal? Ouch.
    – user50049
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 20:42
  • @TimPost got it. If you check my activity on SO you'll see that over the past 2 months I've been busy creating quality answers & increasing my rep from a lowly 1 point to nearly 4k. So hopefully I've paid my penance! :-) Regards,
    – Dr. Andrew Burnett-Thompson
    Commented Feb 22, 2012 at 5:34
  • I am also very disappointed to have reached this - too many times people down vote that is very borderline before we really understand how its working. Moderation carries a responsibility clearly that some have abused.
    – landed
    Commented Feb 28, 2014 at 14:08
  • Duplicate of meta.stackexchange.com/questions/86997/…
    – new Q Open Wid
    Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 20:39

2 Answers 2

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I think I can shed some light on this.

You posted three answers using your SO account, and all three answers were deleted by a moderator, because they were comments, not answers. This most likely triggered the "Low Quality Posts" IP ban.

I noticed that you called the Android tag a "forum." StackOverflow does not work like a traditional forum. StackOverflow is a question/answer site. You can't just post replies to replies to replies here.

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  • Thanks. I can't see anything like that. I also didn't cover the case where everything was deleted. @user2970 You need 50 reputation to leave comments on other people's questions and answers.
    – user142852
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 22:44
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    I wish the system would send users a warning email after the first one or two low-quality deletes before the hammer gets dropped
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 18:18
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    @AdamRackis To what end? We're teaching people how to be better programmers, not to coddle them while they ignore everything we have in place to ensure new users have a good first experience. I can get past a language barrier, and often do. But really, do we want people that serially fail to read on the site with pillows strapped to their bottoms?
    – user50049
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 20:36
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    @Tim - I hear what you're saying. My motivation is not to coddle the unteachable, but to try to reduce—perhaps in vain—posts like this.
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 21:18
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Your account on SO is blank (the one you're linked to from this meta account anyway), so there are two cases:

  • If you are genuinely a new user to the site this may be in error. Bans occur at a "lower level" (see below) than the account so I'm sure every once in a while they catch people in error.

  • If you have previously had an account which has triggered this, bear this in mind from your link:

    Can I simply create a new account?

    No. The question ban is at a lower level than account.

    So if you have previously triggered this filter on an old account a new account won't help you. I have no idea what a "lower level" means and I suspect it is intentionally vague. If this scenario applies to you, it is for the reasons the link in the message describes and you should take note.

I have no way of telling which of the two scenarios apply to you. If it is in error SE Inc employees post here regularly so I'm sure they'll pick this up or alternatively you can contact the team directly. If it isn't, I advise reviewing what went wrong with the old account and taking time to read the FAQ, the link in your question and having a look generally at some upvoted questions to get a rough idea of what is considered a quality post.

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