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Now that the maximum tag length has been increased to 35, I've been spending some time browsing older retag requests to see which ones can now be completed.

On one such request, I tried posting the following answer:

Now that the maximum tag length has been increased to 35, I see no reason why this tag can't be fixed.

I was then notified "Trivial answer converted to comment".

In this scenario, I think this is a significant enough development that it should be posted as an answer, and not as a comment.

How can I prevent my answer from being auto-converted to a comment?

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  • "I've just checked - that tag cannot be fixed as there is a maximum length of 25 chars for tags. So no, it can't be fixed, it's a status-bydesign." seems just as trivial an answer short so perhaps the auto-change rules have been adjusted or.... So all I can guess is maybe add a screen shot?
    – Ross
    Commented Aug 9, 2017 at 3:30
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    @iBug I don't think this is duplicate. It does not ask "why" but rather asks to challenge/cancel this feature so that OP can post trivial answers. It's more of a feature request actually. (So I also downvoted since I believe this feature is just fine and trivial answers should not be posted)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 9, 2017 at 7:13

2 Answers 2

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I used a wording that was not much longer and only slightly changed from what you tried, and was able to add an answer to that same question successfully.

I recommend trying to always answer with more than a single sentence.

With any one line answer, I think you run the risk of it attracting downvotes and/or a post notice (and possibly later deletion) for providing insufficient explanation.

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    I kinda wanted to post the answer myself...
    – Stevoisiak
    Commented Aug 9, 2017 at 3:53
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    @StevenVascellaro I was trying to provide you, and later readers, with a workaround in case you encountered the same problem again. I thought the best way to do that was by showing one that works.
    – PolyGeo
    Commented Aug 9, 2017 at 3:55
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From Kevin Montrose's answer:

Trivial answers containing a link to another question in the network are automatically converted to comments on the question, with the message

You may want to add more details (just a little more) so that your answer is longer and does not fit in the "trivial" criterion.

I believe the current criterion for conversion is all below:

  • The formatting is totally acceptable in comment
    • no paragraph or linebreak (will be stripped)
    • no <pre> block or quote block
      • If you use <pre> or <blockquote>, your answer will still be converted, however. Use 4-space indentation and > instead. See HTML below.
    • no image
    • no <kbd> tag (See HTML below)
    • no lists (ordered/unordered)
    • no HTML formatting (i.e. MD only) (will be forcibly ignored)
    • not so long contains no more than 2 sentences (Comma is OK)
    • ......

  • Contains links, but only link to other posts (Q or A) in the network.

    In other words, answer with no link OR with an external link (e.g. Google) will not be converted.

So you may want to format your answer so that it doesn't meet the criteria above.

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    I understand that sometimes a very short answer is all that's needed, but using formatting tricks to bypass the check is abusive. Please don't.
    – yannis
    Commented Aug 9, 2017 at 7:23
  • I think it is a lot easier to just treat "about two sentences" as being a minimum length answer.
    – PolyGeo
    Commented Aug 9, 2017 at 7:44

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