How can one remove the answers that are irrelevant? I have couple of questions which are not yet answered. But it is marked as answered because someone has put an irrelevant answer to it. The owner should be able to vote for removing such entries.
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Do you have a link to the question/s? Are the answers really irrelevant, or just not absolute solutions?– Grant ThomasCommented Jul 1, 2011 at 9:09
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meta.stackexchange.com/questions/40527/…– sarnoldCommented Jul 1, 2011 at 9:11
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1@GrantThomas: Here is an example for an answer that simply gives something I've already posted in the question as being "not helpful": How can I make fit the diagram in the page?– Martin ThomaCommented Dec 6, 2013 at 11:31
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4 Answers
I can see this question of yours that doesn't have an accepted answer, it has an attempted answer but, as per your comment, it was truly a further enquiry and should have been a comment. I've flagged that one for you, but you can do this in the future by pressing the flag link under the answer and selecting the appropriate reason.
If answers are relevant but in fact wrong, then down-vote.
There are two other questions with unaccepted answers, but relevant, and you seem grateful for the input given, even if not fully accepted.
answered Jul 1, 2011 at 9:16
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2Incidentally, my flag was deemed invalid but the post is now gone and placed as an appropriate comment. One day I'll understand the flag handling decision making... Commented Jul 1, 2011 at 12:05
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@Grant-Thomus: Why I want to remove those posts as that will keep the post uncluttered. And also might change the status of a question as 'Unanswered' if the misfit answer is removed.– KangkanCommented Dec 6, 2013 at 12:10
Aren't sports interesting If they are truly not an answer, you should flag them for a moderator to look at. If they are just not what you are looking for, add a comment to the user that has left them indicating this.
If the answers are "me too" type posts, spam or offensive then flag these for removal.
However, with answers that are just wrong it's really up to you and the community to downvote and leave comments explaining why the answer is wrong, and perhaps encourage the poster to delete their answer. Please see Shog's answer to this question:
In this case the answer is suggesting a solution and whilst it may not be great, moderators are not really in a position to arbitrarily delete wrong answers. We're not experts at everything, otherwise we'd all be at the top of the rep leagues. I don't know Crystal reports so I can't tell if that answer is even partially correct.
10k users can also vote to have an answer deleted, but again that is a community lead and not moderator driven mechanism. Moderators can cast a binding delete vote but only if there is something very very wrong with the post (such as it being flagged as "me-too", spam or offensive).
In this case the answer isn't "irrelevant" because the poster does try to address your problem with a solution albeit suboptimal.
Wrong answers can also sometimes be beneficial for the "here's how NOT to solve this problem" effect:
Keeping wrong answers for the learning effect, but without rep disadvantages
If the answers are just wrong, you can downvote them. If they are unrelated, you can flag them for moderator review. (Not-an-answer answers appear to get vaporised very quickly, once someone finds them.)
Check the Unanswered display -- it shows both questions with no answers and questions without up-voted answers. I don't know how many users actively read this query versus the main [Questions] query, but hopefully it is enough to help garner new answers among users not in the The Fastest Gun In The West club.
