4

I raised a flag on this answer because the information in the answer is incorrect. The person who answered put gci = Get-Content which is incorrect. gci is the alias to Get-ChildItem not Get-Content. I raised this point in the comment, but while the poster acknowledged the mistake, he didn't make any edits.

Since I don't have to rep to change only two characters in an answer, I raised a flag. The flag was closed as finding no evidence to support the flag. My question is, was I wrong in flagging this answer? Should I have left it alone, even though as it stands it is incorrect since the comments clarify the error?

Improve this question
2
  • How did you flag it?
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Jan 23, 2013 at 20:50
  • 2
    Also, it's not the moderator's job to correct mistakes in answers; you did the right thing commenting, but if you cannot edit the answer and the answerer doesn't correct it, adding a new answer yourself is also an option.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Jan 23, 2013 at 20:51

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
12

Yes, you were wrong. But don't worry about it, declining flags is meant mostly to educate users on how to flag.

Moderators don't judge the technical accuracy of posts, they enforce the rules of the site. If you see a post that is wrong, downvote it and comment on the error. If you don't have the reputation to do that, just let someone else do it.

If the user doesn't correct his mistake, your best solution is to post a competing answer yourself that corrects the mistake. This will allow the community to vote on who is right and who is wrong.

In general, don't flag if a post is wrong, only if a post violates the rules.

Improve this answer
3
  • I don't believe he flagged "because it was incorrect" but in hopes that a moderator would make the 2-character change that he was not allowed to make.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Jan 23, 2013 at 20:57
  • 3
    @animuson that leads to the same result, moderators would still have to judge the technical content of the post and the edit to decide which one is right. Asking the mods to edit a critical part of the code is asking the mods to decide on the technical accuracy of the post.
    – Mad Scientist
    Commented Jan 23, 2013 at 21:05
  • Not in this case. It is clearly admitted in the comments that it should be gc, the user just never made the change. I agree a flag shouldn't be made in either case, but I believe the OP's intentions were still pure. He just went about trying to correct it the wrong way.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Jan 23, 2013 at 21:08
5

If you're not at the reputation level to make a two-character change, look for other things in the post that could be fixed up. A quick glance pops out the "Hope that helps!" at the end of the post, which could easily be removed in order to pass the minimum character change, as it provides nothing to the post and shouldn't be there (see What should I keep out of my posts and titles? for more).

If you can't find anything else to fix and the OP doesn't want to edit it, don't flag it. Instead, try visiting a relevant chat room and asking a user if they would mind making the change. If the change is legitimate, I'm sure someone will help you. If not, someone will explain why the change shouldn't be made. In either case, it's not really the moderator's job to make minor changes like this.

Improve this answer
2
  • If you're not at the reputation level to make a two-character change, look for other things in the post that could be fixed up Sadly it might have been rejected anyway because some people think that all code suggested edits are wrong, even though that's bunk.
    – Some Helpful Commenter
    Commented Jan 23, 2013 at 22:59
  • 1
    @SomeHelpfulCommenter: Properly explaining the edit by noting you are fixing an error identified in the comments should not cause a rejection. Just editing with a comment like "fixing error" probably would. Phrasing is key.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Jan 23, 2013 at 23:01

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .