6

I have seen posts, such as Please need to discuss that code that has no meaning at all.

That post had a number of g's typed, and conveyed nothing (it would have been deleted by the time you read this).

While flagging it I had a dillema in choosing what to flag it as. Should I flag it as blatanly off topic or have a moderator's intervention.

The former should be used to flag if the question totaly off topic, but it's not a question in the first place. So I thought I should select moderator intervention, but it should be used only if the above options do not hold good, which made me rethink about the former.

So how should such meaningless posts be flagged?

Improve this question
10
  • 1
    In its current revision I flagged as rude/abusive where I stretch the meaning of abusive into doesn't pay respect to any rules or the users of the community.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 11:02
  • If I saw that, I'd flag as spam.
    – angussidney
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 11:04
  • 1
    Guys,spams criterea is diffrent. See the first answer. It says why
    – user271510
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 11:08
  • And I was thinking, shouldn't this question be asked first on Android Enthusiasts Meta, though it's fine here as well?
    – 286110
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 13:41
  • 1
    Strangely enough, the question is still there, not even closed, six hours later.
    – mmking
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 14:54
  • @mmking exactly
    – user271510
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 14:56
  • @mmking As per the info here, one of the ♦ were seen 15 hours ago and others were seen before that time, so the flags are still pending. As for the other reasons that can cause deletion as mentioned here, they are simply yet to meet the requirements.
    – 286110
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 18:02
  • @Firelord I knew about that. I'm just surprised that the question was viewed fifty times and still hasn't gotten five close votes, and it hasn't been deleted in the LQP queue.
    – mmking
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 18:29
  • @mmking I expected that you would know it, but I would also add more. LQP hasn't been reviewed today by anyone other than me as of now; and as for the close votes, I can't say whether enough "close vote" privileged users were active for last 9-10 hours, or have seen the question or not. I'm aware of three such privileged users whom I've seen active today, so count three votes at least, but can't say about others.
    – 286110
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 18:37
  • @Firelord Sorry about that. I don't have an account on Android.SE, so I can't see that information.
    – mmking
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 18:41

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
11

Seems like the "Unclear what you are asking" category should be used. That is what I use when I see them anyway.

In this example, and other similar ones I have seen, the OP has edited away the question and replaced it. The question is now unclear.

To be spam it should either be promoting something, or the poster has made many similar questions. One single meaningless piece of text isn't spam and does not require the urgency of a spam flag.

Having no meaning is exactly "unclear in meaning".

Improve this answer
4
  • Yes, but it isnt asking anything, so how can i say that post is "Unclear what you are asking"
    – user271510
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 10:28
  • 2
    How about flagging as spam?
    – Mureinik
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 10:31
  • 1
    @Mureinik no, spam is for spam! This should be rolledback, then we take more action if needed. Or like this post said, do Unclear What You Are Asking
    – Universal Electricity
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 11:18
  • @Switch If a question doesn't contain a question then it is pretty unclear what they are asking.
    – casey
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 16:06
2

No for off-topic because really, it is still about programming. It is just that the way the user made the question was not so good.

If you think that the question has no meaning, you probably don't understand the question at hand, right? That is why we have a flag for "Unclear what you are asking about". You have no clue what the user is asking, then use this flag.

If you have the chance, flag it as "Very low quality". Sometimes it shows up, sometimes it doesn't. Very low quality flags are self-explanatory, the flagged posts are very low quality and should be removed.

The question is off-topic, so flag it as off-topic. That's very simple for the flag.

Spam flags are used to flag posts that promote a product or service or put simply, a post used as an advertisement. These are questions that must be flagged and should be skimmed. It is usually pretty obvious if it spam or not in the first place.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    +1, I missed the title in revision 2 which is related to programming, which makes it good candidate for the flag: "Development/programming related questions are off-topic." Good catch!, although I would still hold on to my opinion in my answer as well, because it is still unrelated to Android.
    – 286110
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 14:29
  • Nice answer. I upvoted it.
    – user271510
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 14:53
1

I didn't flag it as Spam because it's no advertising or promotion of any product, let alone talking about disclosing affiliation. (I must say I was tempted to flag it as "Spam" considering its definition in non-SE communities).

I also thought of flagging it (but didn't) as "Unclear what you're asking" as Brian mentioned here in the gist:

Having no meaning is exactly "unclear in meaning".

VLQ wasn't available because of many downvotes, and it isn't suitable as well, since there really isn't any Android related content in revision 2, let alone a very low quality one.

I finally ended up with "Blatantly off-topic (this question has nothing to do with Android)" considering the revision 1 in entirety -- which is just some random code having no relation to Android, and next revision's title and the content again.

For those who might not be able to see the question because it would be deleted in a matter of time, here is the screenshot of revision 1 and 2:

IMG: revisions

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    And it wasn't sensible for me to mark it as "Rude/offensive" either.
    – 286110
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 13:38
  • 1
    Brilliant! Thanks,i upvoted it. To be honest, i flaged it twice, first blatanly offtopic, then mod interven. Cuz i didnt know wat to do. This might get selected as the right answer if i dont get better once
    – user271510
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 13:59

You must log in to answer this question.