Questions tagged [not-an-answer]
Content posted as an answer that doesn't actually answer the question at hand may be flagged "Not an Answer". Note *bad* answers are not eligible for this kind flag.
202
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Is an answer consisting of "Please restart technology-in-question" not an answer? [duplicate]
The 10k queue is full of not an answer flags on answers containing only "Please restart xyz". It looks like someone did a search and went on a flagging rampage.
How should we be handling these flags?...
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6
votes
2
answers
368
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Should "Restarting worked for me" be a comment?
The question:
What should I do, if the "Open Call Hierarchy" is broken (empty for every method in a project)? It is very useful for code navigation, do not know, how to work without it!
The answer ...
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13
votes
3
answers
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Not an answer flags declined, why?
I've flagged the followings as not an answer:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/6049319/493122
https://stackoverflow.com/a/1560748/493122
https://stackoverflow.com/a/3659728/493122
https://stackoverflow....
- 3,950
4
votes
1
answer
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Should already accepted answers even be able to be flagged as "not an answer"? [duplicate]
The description of the "not an answer" flag states:
This was posted as an answer, but it does not attempt to answer the
question. It should possibly be an edit, a comment, another question,
or ...
- 1,494
6
votes
3
answers
164
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Not an answer flag declined [duplicate]
My flag as not an answer on the question https://stackoverflow.com/a/16470416/656600 has been declined with this message, "declined - flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an ...
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3
votes
2
answers
112
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Clarification for non-answers
One of my flags for "non-answer" was declined and I was wondering if I misunderstood what "non-answer" means. I saw someone post an answer that was just a block of code, with nothing in it that was ...
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4
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1
answer
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Why was this "not an answer" flag declined?
I flagged this answer for moderator attention, marking it as not an answer. This flag was declined because "flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an altogether wrong answer". ...
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8
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1
answer
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Why was this flag for not an answer declined?
I flagged this answer as "not an answer", however it was declined with the reason "flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an altogether wrong answer". The entire answer is "Do ...
- 3,682
6
votes
2
answers
128
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Why do moderators review 'not an answer' flags?
This question has been bothering me for a while, but until recently I had simply accpeted it as a part of the StackExchange way.
Now, as a result of Robert Harvey's question concerning moderators and ...
user206222
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2
answers
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Can we clarify or remove the Not An Answer flag reason?
In light of the discussion here (verdict: NAA is not to be used for "Answers a different question") and here, the NAA flag seems a bit redundant and ambiguous to me. AFAICT, the current legitimate ...
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2
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How do I properly use the "Not an Answer" flag?
What is the "Not an Answer" flag and what is its purpose?
When should I use this flag?
When should I not use this flag?
But I'm still not sure if I'm using the flag correctly...
An answer is ...
125
votes
7
answers
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Can we get some consensus on what flag to use for link only answers? [duplicate]
Related: Since moderators are just asking users to flag a custom "Link only answer," can we permanently make this a flag option? (not a dupe, that's a feature request and was closed as a ...
- 79k
-2
votes
2
answers
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Flagged answer was not the answer I was looking for
I recently asked this question. One of the answers that is currently there, I had flagged as "Not an Answer", because as I state in comments, I wasn't looking for a solution to the problem I was ...
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14
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1
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Since moderators are just asking users to flag a custom "Link only answer," can we permanently make this a flag option? [duplicate]
For a couple weeks, moderators have been declining not an answer flags on link-only answers:
declined - Please don't flag link only answers as 'not an answer': When should you decide whether to ...
user206222
4
votes
0
answers
146
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NAA, or just bad answer? [duplicate]
This question basically boils down to "What is the difference between X and Y:"
What is the difference between having
<%# Eval("State") %> in your aspx page or
<%# DataBinder.Eval(...
- 2,756
3
votes
1
answer
58
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Shouldn't my flag have been declined?
Ealier today, I found this answer in the new answers to old questions 10K list. It sounded like a new question, so I left a canned comment to the author, and flagged it as not an answer.
Then the ...
- 8,556
1
vote
1
answer
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Is this a real answer?
Regarding this answer:
How to play .mov file in Android devices using default player?
.MOV not supported in android.
I've flagged it as NAA, because it basically reiterates that .mov files are ...
- 2,434
10
votes
3
answers
426
views
When is an answer not an answer?
Whilst reviewing answers I came across an answer that was several paragraphs long and I imagine that without reading it there are those who might consider it to be ok and happily move on to the next ...
user241462
13
votes
2
answers
307
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Either I need clarification on the 'Not an answer' flags or it needs a new description [duplicate]
First of all - I'm not going to bitch and moan to moderators in this topic. I'm here to ask clarification because I've had a flag declined and I really have no clue what I did 'wrong', or how to avoid ...
- 1,748
9
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1
answer
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Understanding why this not an answer flag was declined?
I was reviewing the list of flagged posts, and came across one that was marked as "Not an Answer". The full response was:
i have same problem, pls answer to this
I agreed with the existing flag, ...
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20
votes
6
answers
495
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Why was this 'not-an-answer' flag declined? [duplicate]
I flagged this answer as Not An Answer (NAA), because while this does point the OP in the direction of the correct answer, the answer as written should be a comment.
In the event the answer gets ...
- 51.4k
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(NOT) An Answer
Background:
I flagged this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/16198105/731947 as not an answer.
Full text:
got the same error, in Windows running with Administrator privileges solved the ...
- 573
5
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2
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277
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Is it ever appropriate to give guidelines or hints instead of a straightforward answer?
For one of my earliest answers on Stack Overflow, instead of simply providing a code sample that would explicitly solve the OP's problem, I decided to give a sort of "non-answer" amounting to "do your ...
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1
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Very odd that my post correcting another poster was deleted
I'm unclear how my post correcting an incorrect "answer" was deleted as "off topic".
Per your faq "commentary on the question or other answers" is grounds for deletion.
What about when those "...
2
votes
1
answer
118
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Declined Not an Answer flag [duplicate]
First, I apologize for yet another declined flag post.
However, this question specifically states: "I don't need to be able to go from string to value again." And this answer specifically answers ...
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1
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Why was this flag declined? [duplicate]
I flagged this answer on StackOverflow because it has absolutely nothing to do with the question that was asked. The comment that was given was:
declined - flags should not be used to indicate ...
- 193
-4
votes
2
answers
135
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Why answering own question with techical mistake is an answer? [duplicate]
I believe I couldn't explain my question with this title, please feel free to update it.
In earlier today, I flag this answer as not an answer.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/15911344/447156
This ...
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2
answers
259
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Does a not-an-answer 'answer' benefit from the same comment repeated five times?
Consider the following trail (question Unrecognized rule error, but you'll need 10K rep to see what I'm talking about since the non-answer is deleted):
Does the offender learn from the repetition, or ...
- 11.2k
18
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4
answers
315
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Flag on nonsense rejected, and I don't know why [duplicate]
Take a look at this answer:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/11898022/1709587
It doesn't seem like any kind of attempt to answer the question, and it's hard to guess at how it came into being at all. The ...
- 10.9k
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2
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320
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Why was a flag on this "I have this problem too" answer declined?
This answer is, in my view, an "I have this problem too" post, but my flag as "Not an answer" was declined.
The text of the answer is:
I also have this problem with Samsung galaxy Tab 2 (with ...
- 4,690
1
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1
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Flagging An Answer in Review Queue - then what?
I can't seem to find the best approach or documentation on how to handle a particular issue. So you go to Review and someone clearly post this:
You should always provide code when asking a ...
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0
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155
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Something weird going on with this question
I was browsing the New answers to Old Questions 10k queue, and came across an odd, new answer, so I went to the question:
Wake app at regular intervals while using UIBackgroundModes=location
While ...
- 28.3k
10
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1
answer
119
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Why was this an incorrect use of the non-an-answer flag
On this question the OP wants a general printing out a pyramid. Their current solution works but it is hard coded to only work for six values. This answer then repeats the OP's code so that it will ...
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3
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429
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Is "works fine here" an answer?
Sometimes, I come across answers (not comments) that shows a proof that the code of the OP is working fine. Of course, not all such answers are correct, since the difference in version of the ...
- 5,554
27
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4
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549
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Can we have an unambiguous, official ruling on what the "not an answer" flag is for? [duplicate]
What does the not an answer flag mean?
My interpretation is that this flag is intended for things which clearly are not answers. In other words, "this shouldn't exist, because it does not intend ...
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3
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127
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"There's a bug in your code snippet" answers and "not an answer" flags
If an answer is along the lines of...
This doesn't relate to {what you asked about} but in your code the line {code snippet} probably doesn't do what you think it does because {language feature}.
...
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1
answer
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Answers referring to a manual page
I ran across an answer that refers readers to a UNIX manual page.
The body of the answer contains no additional information or summary, only the man 3 swab command. Should the answer be flagged as "...
- 4,763
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1
answer
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Flagged as not-an-answer, all visible consequences except the answer actually going away happened - what gives?
I flagged this answer as Not An Answer since the answerer changed it from an unhelpful answer to just a link. My flag was marked as helpful, my downvote reputation-loss was reverted, as was the ...
- 1,473
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vote
1
answer
119
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How to handle someone trivially editing an answer that isn't an answer?
I frequent the review queues on SO and in the middle of flagging an answer as "not an answer", I noticed it had just been edited. This was odd since this answer was actually asking a question.
The ...
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Why a flag (Not an answer) is declined?
I flagged this answer as not an answer. It was declined by a moderator with the reason:
declined - a moderator reviewed your flag, but found no evidence to support it
It's very clear that the post ...
- 391
8
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1
answer
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Is there a way to respond to a declined flag verdict?
I just flagged an answer that was, well, not an answer. Checking my flagging history, this was declined in error, or possibly due to a bug in the system - see screenshot:
Is there anyway to politely ...
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"Not an answer" flag declined with "This is NOT spam. Use 'not an answer' for this." [duplicate]
This is the answer that was flagged: Passing data to a bootstrap modal
Is this because of another user flagging this as spam, and the tool for community moderator doesn't allow for flexibility in ...
- 5,554
4
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3
answers
131
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Understanding the rejection decision of a flag [duplicate]
I spend a decent amount of time on Stack Overflow reading questions and answers, so I also end up flagging a lot. Yesterday, I flagged this answer as not an answer because:
it only contains a link to ...
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1
answer
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Not An Answer flag on Link Only Answer declined without action [closed]
I went through the 10K mod tool flag queue and flag this link only answer as not an answer, which got rejected.
Answer text (full) is:
For those wondering, here is another website showing a way to ...
- 5,554
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vote
2
answers
128
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"Not an answer" flag, add a text box to enter what post should receive the flagged post as a comment
When I flag an answer as "not an answer", if it should be a comment, I instead flag it as "other" and put in the box the post that it should be a comment on. When moderating on SQA, I know I wish I ...
- 4,415
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0
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105
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Why do people upvote obvious non-answers? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
C’mon now - someone is having a joke! Who up voted this?
I just came upon this post. It is obviously not an answer - what with the poster mentioning a bunch of thing that they ...
- 1,495
33
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0
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678
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C'mon now - someone is having a joke! Who up voted this? [closed]
While going through the review queue I spotted something extraordinary.
Can someone trace where this answer has been so that we can find how it got three up votes by the time I saw it? Has it ...
- 20.3k
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1
answer
109
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Flagging answers edited out of existence 'to preserve comments'
I recently flagged this answer as "not an answer" because it no longer is one - it had been an incorrect answer at first, but was edited effectively out of existence by the user who posted it "to ...
user201929
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5
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Is it forbidden to use "Other" flag for link-only answers? [duplicate]
I flagged an answer 10K only link that looked like this:
This is not my article but have a look at <external URL> which looks like it will work for you.
I used the "Other" flag, with a ...
- 11.3k
3
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2
answers
103
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Is this spam, or just a poor answer?
This answer came up in a late answer review: Designing a textual user interface using ncurses.
It reads like an advert and provides no links to the actual tool-kit "advertised", which makes it feel ...
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