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tl;dr: I don't want to delete such answers (I want to downvote them) but I also can't press the "nothing is wrong" button with a clear conscience if I know the answer is literally wrong.

From Review of Low Quality answers offers unsatisfactory choices of actions

According to When should I delete an answer?, answers that are earnest attempts at an explanation, but that are technically incorrect, should be downvoted but not deleted.

Low quality posts review violates this policy.

There are 4 options while reviewing a low quality posts: "Looks OK", "Edit", "Delete", "Skip".

I often find that an answer is ok from a moderation point of view but it might be a wrong answer i.e., the answer should be downvoted (with an optional comment) but otherwise it should be left along.

None of the current options fit in this case:

  • "Looks OK" is defined as "nothing is wrong with this answer" (it is the direct quote from the review page). It shouldn't be used if the answer is wrong.

  • "Edit" -- edits shouldn't change author's intent and therefore a wrong answer shouldn't be edited (a new correct answer should be posted instead)

  • "Delete" -- I don't want to delete. Wrong solutions have value if they are clearly marked as such

  • "Skip" implies that "I don't know" but I do know that the answer is technically incorrect but otherwise is OK

From Is "recommend deletion" secretly a vote to delete?

What's more, these users are presented with the choice in a way that stongly encourages them to vote for deletion, in that the only alternatives (apart from "don't know") is "looks good" and "edit it to look good". This suggests to users that if they understand the question and the answer (and so "don't know" is not right), there is no middle ground between answers that "look good" (or can be made to do so) and answers that ought to be deleted. In effect the UI is suggesting that unless the user would upvote the answer, he should vote for deletion -- even though the vote is presented to him as a "recommendation". emphasis is mine

Posts related to allowing upvoting/downvoting in this context:

Here's a very similar discussion Rename "Looks Good" or add a "Looks OK, just Incorrect" in Low Quality Question Review

My suggestion: allow Upvote/Downvote in addition to "Looks OK" button or rename it to "Keep it".

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  • I agree with your final suggestion, but your choice of title and opening arguments almost left me downvoting and closing the tab before I finished. Maybe rewrite to avoid the impression that you personally misunderstand what Looks OK already means?
    – Nathan Tuggy
    Aug 17, 2015 at 4:28
  • @NathanTuggy: "nothing is wrong with this answer" is the direct quote (as indicated by quotations marks in the text). What is perceived misunderstanding on my part here?
    – jfs
    Aug 17, 2015 at 4:42
  • Your misunderstanding (apparently) is that Looks OK actually means anything other than Keep It. Awkward, useless queue guidance aside, it most certainly does not. It means "nothing is (so) wrong with this answer (that it should be deleted posthaste, bypassing the usual protections for content)". This was hashed out rather thoroughly, I thought, in your last link to the previous discussion along the same lines.
    – Nathan Tuggy
    Aug 17, 2015 at 4:46
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    if author disagrees with deletion, they are free to undelete. Not to mention that if answer is accepted or has positive score, system simple won't let it to be deleted via review. There is quite a bit of safety net built in LQ review
    – gnat
    Aug 17, 2015 at 4:49
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    @gnat: I want to downvote the answer, I don't want to delete it.
    – jfs
    Aug 17, 2015 at 4:53
  • as far as I can see, that's not what question title says, "Should we encourage deleting answers that are ..."
    – gnat
    Aug 17, 2015 at 4:54
  • @NathanTuggy: I can't press the "nothing is wrong" button with a clear conscience if I know the answer is literally wrong.
    – jfs
    Aug 17, 2015 at 4:57
  • @gnat: yes, and my question advocates why we should not.
    – jfs
    Aug 17, 2015 at 4:59
  • @J.F.Sebastian: I can! And I do. I know what it means, and I'm comfortable with that. I do support making that clearer, as long as you're coming from the starting point of "this is what we know it really means, but this is what it is often misunderstood as".
    – Nathan Tuggy
    Aug 17, 2015 at 4:59
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    Related, if not duplicate: Improve help text for the low-quality-posts queue
    – Wrzlprmft
    Aug 17, 2015 at 5:17
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    Another one of those problems that could be solved by rewording that inaccurate "Looks Ok" button? Of course it doesn't "look ok", it's a bad answer, but looking ok is absolutely not what the "Looks Ok" button is about at all.
    – Christian Rau
    Aug 17, 2015 at 8:42
  • Out of curiosity: Your question coinciding with this bounty suggests that there is something making this topic hot, i.e., it was discussed somewhere else. Where?
    – Wrzlprmft
    Aug 17, 2015 at 10:58
  • @Wrzlprmft: I'm not aware of such discussion. My question is inspired by personal experience.
    – jfs
    Aug 17, 2015 at 11:04
  • @J.F.Sebastian: Then it was probably just a remarkable coincidence.
    – Wrzlprmft
    Aug 17, 2015 at 11:12

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