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I recently flagged this answer, used the other option and put the following as the text:

This answer is accepted, but completely wrong.

And got this as the response:

declined - flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an altogether wrong answer

The answer is indeed incorrect, as it says that something isn't possible, when it is completely possible, and has been right from the beginning of Java.

Could someone tell me if this was an error on my part, or a mistake by the moderator? I'm not blaming anyone, just wanted to be sure I'm not doing anything wrong by flagging such answers.

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    Moderators are not supposed to (need to) judge the technical accuracy of answers. That's why that is one of the standard one-click decline reasons.
    – Daniel Fischer
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 23:20
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    I'm confused what you're confused about. That sentence clearly says you should not use flags for that reason. According to the flag reason you provided, that's exactly what you flagged it for... Hence the flag was declined.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 23:20
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    @animuson I'm confused because it is an altogether wrong answer. It gives wrong, incorrect information, and moreover, it is the accepted answer.
    – Raghav Sood
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 23:23
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    By the way, if case 5..100: is possible in Java, that's new. I think you have misunderstood the question and answer. The asker was well aware of fallthrough, and asked whether it was possible to have a single case label for multiple values.
    – Daniel Fischer
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 23:24
  • But I see your point. Thank you for clearing that up
    – Raghav Sood
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 23:24
  • I down voted this question.. not because of the approach you took, but because the answer is technically correct. You state it is completely wrong but offer no proof for your assertion.
    – slugster
    Commented Mar 24, 2013 at 2:26

2 Answers 2

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If an answer is wrong then downvote it and leave a comment. Flagging as not an answer should only be used for posts like

  • Thank you
  • Me too
  • Did someone find a solution

and so on: Posts that are really not an answer.

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    I didn't flag as NAA. I flagged and explained in the other section
    – Raghav Sood
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 23:23
  • You shouldn't generally flag such posts as @DanielFischer stated in his comment.
    – juergen d
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 23:45
  • @LanceRoberts: I meant: See the comment of DanielFischer: Moderators are not supposed to (need to) judge the technical accuracy of answers. That's why that is one of the standard one-click decline reasons.
    – juergen d
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 23:51
  • sorry for me adding to the confusion, I mean the last sentence in your answer doesn't quite make sense. I'll delete my last comment.
    – Lance Roberts
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 23:53
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I think this is most likely a simple misreading of the flag decline reason:

declined - flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an altogether wrong answer

In other words there is no discrepancy between what you flagged and the moderator's response.

For discussion of the problem and the best things to do for accepted answers that are incorrect, see the linked FAQ answers. To summarise from the second FAQ post:

  • Answer the question - or better still upvote the correct answers to the question.
  • Include in your answer explicit reasoning why the other answers are wrong. Don't be personal or hostile about it, but give enough evidence to convince someone coming to the site in the future. If you need to post a new answer for this then do so.
  • Downvote incorrect answers.
  • Leave a comment on each incorrect answer, either just referring to your answer or briefly refuting the relevant point.
  • If the accepted answer is dangerous edit the question and chuck in a warning.
  • If the accepted answer is dangerous and the person asking the question has not fixed it in 24 hours downvote the question.

However it is not encouraged to flag such incorrect choices, as acceptance is down to the question answer to decide whether the problem was fixed for them in their case (which does obviously fall down if the answer is as you say impossible, but hopefully that's the minority of cases). The only recourse a moderator would have is to delete the answer, which isn't really ideal for anybody.

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