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Note: I saw a couple similar questions with conflicting answers. The nature of this question is a bit different.

Someone asked a pretty low quality question today. It had three down votes when I posted my answer. I thought my answer was correct (if terse) given the extremely limited information in the question.

But then the question was fixed up a bit, so now my funny answer which got a couple up votes is known to be incorrect. Should I delete it or leave it for the amusement of others?

Edit

The original asker left a comment to leave it, so I'm good in this specific case. Any advice in general, meta?

Edit 2

I've deleted my answer based on responses to this question (and got my first Disciplined badge for the effort... thanks, Meta!). For the record, my answer was:

Where’s the bug?

CORE/cake/libs/model/datasources/dbo_source.php, line 527

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    A low quality question doesn't excuse for a low quality "answer". – polygenelubricants Jul 16 '10 at 21:04
  • Woldn't "yes, delete it" be an up vote not a down vote for this question? ;) (I'm not stressing over the down vote... just thought it was a bit funny) – Cogwheel Jul 16 '10 at 22:03
  • @polygenelubricants: to be clear, are you saying I shouldn't have posted my answer originally even though I thought it was correct or that I shouldn't leave it there once I found out it wasn't? – Cogwheel Jul 16 '10 at 22:08
  • I'm not authoritative enough to rule what you should or should not have done. Two fragments of your own text are worth quoting, though: "Someone asked a pretty low quality question today", and subsequently you wrote "an answer that is funny but no longer applicable". Nothing against you in particular, and I'm not saying that there's a causality, but in general terms, just because someone asked a low quality question, doesn't make it right if everyone then bury it with low quality "answers". – polygenelubricants Jul 17 '10 at 6:59
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This issue has come up before

How can we be more tolerant of humor? (sic)

Basically, funny answers are not all that appropriate because you are not helping the OP. You can and should feel free to add comments that are funny. But the "answer" of a post should be an "answer" for the user, that is, they should find it helpful.

As you noticed, even though the OP said "leave it" he also said "I already checked" and "I knew someone would say that" meaning that he not only did not find it helpful, but he also assume that such unhelpful comments would come up.

Now, based on the prevailing attitude, people do this kind of thing all the time, but since you came here to ask if it is appropriate, I would say no.

Humour belongs in comments. Answers belong in answers.

You can go ahead and delete it.

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    Thanks for the link to the other topic. I'll go ahead and delete it. FWIW, I did think it was an answer at first (i mean, if he was really worried someone would say that, you'd think he would've provided a bit more detail). – Cogwheel Jul 16 '10 at 21:51
  • Woot... Disciplined badge >< – Cogwheel Jul 16 '10 at 22:00
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Your answer is funny, but should have been a comment in the first place IMO. (Not that it's a big deal either way.)

As @Ladybug says, you can remove it, or leave it be. It may catch the occasional downvote if you leave it, but it's not really a problem.

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  • Even though given the minimal information originally given in the question it could've been the correct answer? (all it was was "where's the bug" and the error message pasted in the question) – Cogwheel Jul 16 '10 at 19:53
  • @Cogwheel but it wasn't :) dbo_source.php is the place where the query is sent to the server, not where it's formulated (At least I'm pretty sure about it.) But true, it was a very badly put question. Funnily enough, I saw it when it was asked and thought about writing the same response myself. – Pekka Jul 16 '10 at 19:55
  • Works for me. Thanks :) – Cogwheel Jul 16 '10 at 19:59
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If you are not afraid of future downvotes, then leave it. It's really up to you.

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  • I'm less afraid of them now that I know the down votes listed in my profile are ones I've made, not ones made against me -_- – Cogwheel Jul 16 '10 at 19:53

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