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Are answers that just contain links elsewhere really “good answers”?

I have seen answers to questions which consist of a brief summary (i.e. not able to stand alone) and a link to another site. If that site ever goes away, the in-depth version of the answer will be lost.

Should original content found on other sites that sufficiently answers the question be copied/rewritten/etc onto the SE site and referenced?

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    You will find a lot of reasoning there. In general, yes. Link-rot is evil, and we should provide any necessary information here.
    – slhck
    Commented Nov 1, 2011 at 20:44
  • @slhck Thanks for the link. That answers part of my question. I guess the other part relates to copyright and how much should get transferred from the other site. Should I edit my question to change the emphasis?
    – Russell Thackston
    Commented Nov 1, 2011 at 20:51
  • Please do so. I'm sure this has been discussed already.
    – slhck
    Commented Nov 1, 2011 at 20:53
  • How to deal with questions or answers plagiarising from copyrighted sources?, et al. @agf The SE people want external content cited regardless from everything I've heard. Users shouldn't have to make distinctions like that anyways; very few are knowledgable enough, as well.
    – user154510
    Commented Nov 1, 2011 at 20:54
  • It's a complicated question. If the other site has a compatible license or a public domain notice, just copy enough for it to stand alone. If it's an incompatible license or "all rights reserved" then you need to follow fair use -- which is an amorphous concept at best.
    – agf
    Commented Nov 1, 2011 at 20:54
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    @MatthewRead I don't think the question has anything to do with whether or not to cite. It's about can you copy content / how much should you copy / etc. in addition to citing the source.
    – agf
    Commented Nov 1, 2011 at 20:58

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