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I recently flag an answer as Low Quality since it is only a link. Later on, the flag went disputed without editing on the answer (I don't know why).

Then I cannot flag the question again, so I flagged it for "Other", like I readed is something I can do, in some posts here on meta.

The flag was declined:

flags should only be used to make moderators aware of content that requires their intervention

Maybe I should't flag on "Other"? I still think the question is low-quality. What is the way to proceed?

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  • Downvote, leave a comment.
    – juergen d
    Oct 10 '13 at 12:04
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    @juergend Then I should not flag it as "Other" explaining the situation?
    – SysDragon
    Oct 10 '13 at 12:06
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    Personally I don't understand why your low-quality flag was disputed. Generally I would do this: Downvote and comment your concerns. If OP does not respond, then flag for low-quality. If that does not change anything then leave it be.
    – juergen d
    Oct 10 '13 at 12:10
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    Sigh, not this again... Personally I would have deleted it 'cause it makes little attempt to solve the problem and is semi-self-promotional. But, meh. I'd be more interested in review banning the person who clicked "Looks Good" in the low quality review than deleting a link to a possibly useful library.
    – ben is uǝq backwards
    Oct 10 '13 at 12:13
  • Don't flag link-only answers.
    – Lance Roberts
    Oct 10 '13 at 12:42
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    @juergend Any edit to the post automatically marks all VLQ flags as disputed. If the flag was made within 5 mintues of posting, a within-grace-period edit could have taken place to result in it being disputed.
    – Servy
    Oct 10 '13 at 14:17
  • @Servy If you read the question, the post was not edited. Someone must be voted to "Looks good" on the review.
    – SysDragon
    Oct 10 '13 at 14:36
  • @SysDragon I noticed that there's no revision, which is why I mentioned the possibility of an edit made within the grace period. Did you flag the post within 5 minutes of it being posted?
    – Servy
    Oct 10 '13 at 14:39
  • @Servy As I said, I flagged it multiple hours later. Then it went disputed, and then I flagged it explaning the situation on "Other", and the flag was rejected
    – SysDragon
    Oct 10 '13 at 14:43
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It's not a good answer, I agree. I can't judge whether what's behind the link answers the question at all, so I hesitate to delete a new answer before the poster has had a chance to fix what's wrong with it. (They haven't been back to the site since the link was posted.)

There are several things the community could do to try and make this a better answer.

  • Downvote it (someone's done that now)
  • Leave a comment (already done)
  • Wait for the OP to respond
  • Edit the answer

If the answer can't be salvaged through editing, and the answerer doesn't respond or responds negatively, feel free to flag for a moderator. We want the community to take responsibility for improving answers, so please try to do all that you reasonably can to improve a post before flagging it for removal.

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  • 2
    Link only answers can probably salvaged by inlining the most relevant parts.
    – Johannes Kuhn
    Oct 10 '13 at 12:28
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    @JohannesKuhn Usually that's all it takes. In the case of a link to someone's open source project, ideally I'd like to see the author explain how that project answers the question (with example code).
    – Bill the Lizard
    Oct 10 '13 at 12:32
  • why do you hesitate to delete a new answer? Recently introduced feature gives authors enough tools to find out about deletion and improve, why do site readers have to suffer watching crap like "look at this, maybe help you, <URL>" while their author is working (or maybe not) on improving? Are you aware btw that that "link-only" comments from LQ queue reach OP inbox even when answer is deleted?
    – gnat
    Oct 10 '13 at 12:55
  • @gnat I already answered that in the same sentence that you quoted. I don't know if what's behind the link actually answers the question or not. The community has plenty of tools at its disposal to try and improve answers before kicking them to the mod queue.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Oct 10 '13 at 13:07
  • so you just don't like it wen you feel it goes to mod queue too early, right? (I ask because to me that sounds a bit different than plain hesitation to remove new answers)
    – gnat
    Oct 10 '13 at 13:44
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    @gnat Right. If we delete it immediately, the community can't see it or fix it.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Oct 10 '13 at 13:45
  • thanks, that makes better sense to me
    – gnat
    Oct 10 '13 at 14:04

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