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Sometimes during the reviewing I see a question and the same user write in the question (by editing it) or in comments that he/she has solved his problem. For instance, here is an example for this type of question.

How to review this kind of questions? (flag them, ask a user to make his answer and mark it as solved?)

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  • I would start of with a comment explaining what should be done (make the edit an answer). If that doesn't work, you might want to just answer it and flag it community wiki so it doesn't seem like you did it for the rep?
    – Nanne
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 16:05
  • The proper comment will be in this case to propose the user to make a separate answer and mark the question as solved (with his proposed answer)?
    – Yury
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 16:15

2 Answers 2

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I rarely ever comment on these cases, especially when they are newer users which may or may not visit the site in the next week, month, or ever again. It's far better off to just do everything yourself. That way, you make sure it actually gets done.

  1. If the user updates that they forgot something, it was a syntax error, or just doesn't provide any answer at all (they just post "solved"), vote to close it as too localized. Oftentimes the question won't get enough attention past that point to be closed by 4 other users, so I usually skip the vote and just flag it for a moderator.

  2. If the user provided a valuable answer either in the comments or edited into their question, then post that as a community wiki answer (so you don't gain reputation off their answer) and then either edit it out of the question or leave the comment (it's one comment, no need to bother moderators with removing it).

You're always welcome to post your own answer, but don't copy what the OP said word-for-word because it is their answer and stealing reputation from an answer you didn't even come up with is frowned upon (the unicorns will come after you).

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  • "It's far better off to just do everything yourself. That way, you make sure it actually gets done." Yeah, and it provides job security, ensuring that you'll have to do it yourself each time forever. That's not really what I'm looking for on Stack Overflow... If you instead educate other people, the reasonable ones who care will start doing it for themselves and be grateful for the knowledge of "house" procedures. The ones who don't care, well, they can't be helped, and I'm not sure why I'd bother to help them.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 20:38
  • @Cody: You're perfectly capable of posting a comment explaining what should be done and still complete the actions yourself. I would still prefer things to get done in the end, and me doing them ensures that. They can learn about it after-the-fact just as well. You're also forgetting that it's not just about helping that person, but anyone who might run across that question.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 21:01
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Based on the question itself:

  • Comment, request the user to add the answer to the question.
  • Vote To Close, as "Too localized".
  • Vote For Deletion, the question is useless.
  • Answer it, my personal favorite. ;)

In this case, close and delete.

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  • I do not like answer it. At first, I can be not a professional in this field. Moreover, an answer or comment does not actually mark that this question is answered. Maybe flag it to close.
    – Yury
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 16:13
  • This is a general question with an example, I believe the "vote" parts of the answer are inappropriate, because they are only relevant (maybe, didn't check) to the example.
    – Nanne
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 16:17
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    @Nanne: I don't understand what your comment means. Bobby is saying that, depending on the question, you might either vote to close/delete it, or leave a comment for the user asking them to post an answer of their own. The principal determinant would be the quality of the question. If it's unlikely to ever help anyone else, then vote to close as "too localized" or "not a real question". If it is a good question and the answer might help someone else in the future, then ask the original poster to add an answer with their solution (and accept it when the system allows them to do so).
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 17:06
  • People are usually pretty accommodating about this if you ask nicely. I do it fairly often, for example.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 17:07
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    @cody I meant that closing is pretty much orthogonal to the issue raised in this question (the meta question, not the linked question). It is about what to do when a user answers in the question itself, and not in an answer.If it needs to be closed, it would also need to be closed if the sollution was given as an actual answer, so mentioning that possibility isn't really adding anything here. Rather, it confuses the matter.
    – Nanne
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 19:17
  • Right, closing can be used for other reasons. But in this case, it's used as the first step toward deletion.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 20:37

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