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When reviewing late answers, one can see this tip:
This is a late answer to an old question provided by a new user. Watch for hidden gems, non-answers, and spam.
I have doubts on what the hidden gems part means. What exactly should one be looking for? A few examples (the most recurring or offending ones at least) might clear up the concept.
I believe that a "hidden gem" in this case refers to an answer that's surprisingly outstanding in quality, especially coming from a new user.
Such answers are rare to come by, plus you don't often find these when sifting through a series of usually low-quality answers or "thanks", "me too!" non-answers (which are the norm when it comes to late answers by new users).
I've cooked up a data explorer query that finds not-so-hidden gems: answers that new users made within a week of registering, to questions that were at least six-months old at the time, that have accumulated more than a net of 25 votes.
The top one is the only post by that user, and now has over 600 up-votes. It's a bit short, so maybe the query could be enhanced to limit only to answers that are 'worth a read'.
