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I flagged https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2261023/onupdate-doesnt-get-called-on-device as "not a real question," since the OP answered it himself as "I don't know what has happened but it started working". I believe it does not bring anything to SO to have such questions that ask nothing and teach nothing.

It was declined. I do mind the flag weight hit, but it is a minor issue to me compared to the fact that I will take other hits if I mark other such questions, which I will do unless I get an explanation I understand to that "decline".

I do understand that human error happens, and maybe I happen to be right with my perception and the person who declined wrong. However, I assume by default I am missing a good reason here for lack of experience, and hence I ask "what was not right in my reasoning"?

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  • 2
    Rather than flag it as not a real question (since it is a real question), you should flag the answer given by the OP. As Not an answer or other. Then the moderators will see that answer and see that the question most likely has no answer and can be closed.
    – Paul
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 5:23
  • In a perfect world the OP would know what they did to fix it ad post a proper answer themselves. Then again in a perfect world the OP wouldn't have had an error in the first place.
    – Paul
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 5:24
  • 4
    @Paul Richard Oldbridge is 100% correct. From our dashboard, we only see the specific question or answer that you flag. The moderator that dismissed it probably saw "NARQ" under a perfectly valid, well written question. Next time, make sure to draw our attention to the post that made you say "Uh oh", or use "other" to explain the context.
    – user50049
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 5:44
  • 1
    Granted, seeing such an odd flag would usually arouse our suspicions enough to go investigate more, but on days where we receive upwards of 1,200 flags (such as yesterday), we don't always do that.
    – user50049
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 5:47
  • 1
    "Too localized" is also a very applicable close reason for "Oops, it was a typo" or, "Huh, I restarted my IDE and now it builds." In the flagging dialogue, this is found under "it doesn't belong here".
    – jscs
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 7:18
  • JOY! It's THIS question, YET AGAIN!
    – user1228
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 14:20

1 Answer 1

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So, to summarize comments and mark this as answered:

  • when a question is problematic due to interactions with an answer, it's better to either use "other" to explain the context or flag the answer itself as "not an answer".

  • "too localized" is a typical close reason for this type of question

  • moderators only see the specific question/answer flagged

  • moderators have an incredible amount of work and should be considered with awe for doing such a great job ;)

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  • Hah, I'll mark it answered in two days :D
    – Kheldar
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 6:44

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