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
questions
6
votes
2
answers
127
views
Should I flag as "not-an-answer" for a new user immediately?
Today I commented on an answer which I later realized was from the OP attempting to give more information in response to comments. I commented to OP that the original question should have been edited,...
- 1,077
-2
votes
1
answer
144
views
Why was my answer to a question deleted? [closed]
I posted some additional information on a topic that appeared to be the same as mine. It included additional information but also ended in a question, since I had not found a complete answer to the ...
- 17
5
votes
3
answers
139
views
Flagging competing answers as Not an Answer
The background for this question:
I answered this question recently.
The OP was asking about using a method that has been deprecated. He got two answers prior to mine (from users with much higher ...
- 2,816
12
votes
0
answers
61
views
Clear not-an-answer flags as helpful when a flagged post is deleted through the review queue
Right now some answers are deleted neither "by the owner" nor "by <some diamond>" - most likely via the "Recommend deletion" function of the new review queue.
However, when a post is deleted ...
- 15.7k
23
votes
2
answers
221
views
As long as answer contains some code?
The OP on the question is having problems with jQuery & opacity in IE 9.
jQuery, Internet Explorer 9 gets wrong opacity
The answer here is a chunk of code that merely tells IE visitors to switch ...
- 1,759
8
votes
2
answers
101
views
Allow follow-up of declined flags
I recently flagged this answer as "not an answer", which was declined with the argument " flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an altogether wrong answer".
While it is ...
- 2,674
11
votes
3
answers
283
views
My flags are disputed, but flagged posts are deleted [duplicate]
6 of my "not an answer" flags were disputed over the night, but the flagged answers are gone.
I'll post some links. Maybe somebody with 10k+ rep can confirm that the answers are deleted:
Problem ...
- 501
32
votes
3
answers
672
views
Should the not-an-answer flag description be clarified?
Checking the moderator tools this morning I see 60 not-an-answer flags out of which only a several I could agree with. The rest were just bad answers, wrong answers or lazy answers.
The way I ...
- 774
14
votes
2
answers
191
views
What difference does it make when selecting the reason to flag an answer?
What difference does it make when selecting the reason to flag an answer? For example the description for "not an answer" and "very low quality" are so similar what's the point of having both?
Does ...
- 2,359
12
votes
1
answer
209
views
How should answers containing just a link be flagged? [duplicate]
I flagged an answer as not an answer because it contained just a link (or a little more than a link), and my flag was rejected because, "flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or ...
- 66.7k
11
votes
0
answers
107
views
Mod "not an answer" flag queue: Display if there's an accepted/high-voted answer
Lots of "not an answer" flags are for link-only answers. Most of them are of low score and not accepted.
It would be pretty useful if there was a quick way to see if the same question has an accepted ...
- 15.7k
-4
votes
3
answers
298
views
Flags declined on short answers that should be comments?
So I was flagging various answers and noticed that a lot of moderators (10k+ users) have answers which should be comments; I flagged some but quite a few became disputed and rejected. Just now I faced ...
- 627
40
votes
5
answers
868
views
Why are accepted answers immune from Flagging link-only answers as Not an Answer?
Let's assume you agree with the yoda's corrective action to a link-only-answer (#12) of the Faq Post What is an acceptable answer?
[A link only] answer must be improved as described above, else it ...
- 13.5k
4
votes
3
answers
58
views
Preserving score when converting answer to comment [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Answers converted to comments should retain upvotes
This question: android: how do i use the progress bar? has an answer that should have been a comment on another answer.
In ...
- 16.3k
29
votes
2
answers
603
views
"flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an altogether wrong answer" justified?
I flagged this single-link answer as not an answer. However I got "declined - flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an altogether wrong answer" response from the mod.
I don'...
31
votes
2
answers
321
views
Enable the community to handle "not an answer" flags without diamond intervention [duplicate]
New users posting thanks, comments or new questions as answers on existing questions is very common. It is also something that should be easily handled by the community itself, without requiring ...
- 177k
5
votes
2
answers
240
views
Why was this flag declined consecutively?
I flagged this answer as "Not an answer," since it doesn't address the question — "Is this just an unfortunate shortcoming of Java's autoboxing/unboxing specification, or is there a good reason ...
- 14.2k
18
votes
6
answers
791
views
Should I not flag a rhetorical question posted as an answer?
I flagged this answer as not an answer. Now, I know that I was wrong because the flag was declined by a moderator. I thought that the answer was a rhetorical question (I believe it is but I could be ...
user162697
26
votes
3
answers
612
views
Did I go wrong flagging this sarcastic answer? If so, where? [closed]
I came across this answer the other day, which immediately seemed strange due to the use of the term "mix mash", so I read on.
Upon reading the whole thing, it seemed like the answer qualified as "...
- 28.3k
-17
votes
5
answers
484
views
Require Second Opinion for Flagged Answers
I just did a flag on following answers
answer.
answer
answer
answer
answer
But from the moderator i got message like declined - flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an ...
- 8,439
2
votes
1
answer
114
views
What should we do with comments posted as answers by low-rep users? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Comments incorrectly submitted as an answer instead: what should we do?
What to do about low-rep users requesting more information in answers?
What to do with self-aware rule ...
- 3,297
6
votes
1
answer
126
views
What happens to users posting non-answers?
Building on this question, what happens to users who post 1 or more answers that are flagged as non-answers and/or deleted?
Are they punished or restricted in any way?
- 3,950
7
votes
2
answers
145
views
Increase in inappropriate Not An Answer flags?
Since the shift away from using flag weight, I have noticed an increase in the number of items in the flag queue in the 10k tools flagged inappropriately as Not An Answer (IMO).
Here is one example ...
- 3,659
9
votes
0
answers
59
views
Mention who wrote the question on the 10k flag page to better suss out non-answers
When going through the 10k+ flag list, I have a recurring nag: it's inconvenient to find when the question asker is trying to clarify his or her question with what they did so far, and when an ...
user149432
18
votes
2
answers
501
views
How to flag an answer that does not answer the question? [duplicate]
I have flagged this answer as "not an answer" - the description of the flag is:
This was posted as an answer, but it does not answer the question. It should possibly be an edit, a comment, another ...
- 154k
10
votes
1
answer
167
views
Should I flag old not-an-answers?
I was going through the review queue on another site and ran into a question that needed formatting. Then I realized it was in the answer queue, and only tangentially related to the question it was ...
- 10.3k
-3
votes
2
answers
76
views
Add free text when flagging an answer as 'not an answer', like you can do with ´other´
The explanation when flaggin something as ´not an answer´ is this:
This was posted as an answer, but it does not answer the question. It should possibly be an edit, a comment, another question, or ...
- 145
11
votes
2
answers
108
views
Are the users posting not-an-answer answers informed what they're doing wrong?
When I flag an answer as "not an answer" and it is accepted by a moderator, is the user who posted the answer notified about this? Does this notification contain an explanation why the answer was ...
- 1,009
13
votes
2
answers
305
views
What's the modus operandi when encountering a not-an-answer?
I am a non-20k-er on many sites. What am I supposed to do when I encounter a not-an-answer?
Flag it as not an answer?
Downvote it?
All of the above?
I have 20k reputation on one of the sites. What ...
- 8,907
5
votes
3
answers
274
views
Why are more flags on answers getting declined nowadays?
Recently (last month or so), many of my flags on answers are getting declined. I did reach 750 flag weight and I do know what to flag and what not to flag, but I am just giving up on flagging content ...
- 333
-5
votes
3
answers
286
views
Usage of the 'not an answer' flag
Not sure if this is the best way to raise this, but I'm at odds with a flag that was 'declined' as the answer to an old question (which in itself isn't a proper SO question) when the person basically ...
- 137
11
votes
4
answers
145
views
Should "avoiding the issue" be considered an answer?
As I spend more time in the review panel, I notice more and more users who ask questions and then answer and accept that answer, which is just some bogus reply that doesn't answer the question but ...
- 187k
2
votes
2
answers
148
views
How should I flag this non-answer?
I have lately spent some time reviewing posts and just came upon this one. It does not really answer the question and I find this kind of irony unkind, if not outright insulting.
Should I just flag ...
- 1,495
7
votes
2
answers
125
views
What is wrong with this answer?
This answer, written by another user, (the link is for 10k users) was deleted, presumably for the "not an answer" reason.
Originally, it was a little short and so I edited it to expand it out into a ...
- 8,450
8
votes
1
answer
335
views
My "not an answer" flag is gone and not showing in my history
Some time ago I flagged this as not-an-answer.
For a while, link to this flagged answer has been visible in my flagging history (flag was declined in case if that matters). As far as I remember it ...
- 11.2k
4
votes
1
answer
114
views
Please solicit a comment on 'not an answer' flags
Over and over, discussions here end up with mods saying, 'don't use not an answer, use "other" so that you can explain the defect.'
Wouldn't it be superior to just let us add a comment to a 'not an ...
- 43.6k
14
votes
2
answers
499
views
Was it a mistake to flag these answers? [duplicate]
My not an answer flags for the below answers were declined "a moderator reviewed your flag, but found no evidence to support it".
I am sorry I am kind of sleepy .. but you can read here to get an ...
- 11.2k
5
votes
1
answer
94
views
Flagging answers as 'not an answer'...what happens if the answer is then improved?
Apologies if this has already been asked, I couldn't find anything using the search.
If I was to flag an answer as 'not an answer' because (obviously) it did not answer the question, and the answer ...
- 1,932
39
votes
2
answers
978
views
When should the "Not an Answer" flag be used? [duplicate]
A few hours ago, I flagged an answer as not an answer. Additionally, I left a comment, basically saying that this answer has nothing to do with the question.
My flag got declined with the following ...
- 1,488
1
vote
0
answers
51
views
Proposal: answer-to-comment conversion for non-diamonds
Of late, there is a giant population of 'not an answer' flags on display, and most of these are comments planted in answers.
It seems to me that answer-to-comment conversion is non-destructive. So, I ...
- 43.6k
10
votes
3
answers
292
views
Should I have flagged this answer as "Not An Answer"?
Today I flagged this answer of Thread exiting message in .Net MVC console as "Not An Answer."
EDIT: the answer has since been flagged again and was subsequently deleted by a moderator.
To paraphrase ...
- 5,499
13
votes
2
answers
576
views
Use the phrase "One more question" to detect non-answers
I just spent all my flags on answers containing the phrase "one more question". This phrase, especially when the post also contains "thanks", "thank you" or similar appears to be a good heuristic for ...
- 10.7k
11
votes
4
answers
328
views
If I solve someones problem instead of answering their question, should I post a comment instead?
I posted this answer to a question where someone was trying to use regex to parse Html. The question was "How can I get my regex to work?" and my answer was "Don't use regex, use this instead".
...
- 8,450
4
votes
2
answers
72
views
What happens to reputation points when this post is flagged?
I came across the following post (refer screensnhot #1) in the question How do I access Excel data source from an SSIS package deployed on a 64-bit server?
In my view, I think this post doesn't truly ...
user162697
19
votes
4
answers
468
views
Making sure the "Not an answer" flag is used for non-answers
Suddenly, the number of outstanding flagged answers went up. It used to be lower than that.
I was reviewing them, and it occurred to me that I see invalid "not an answer" flags more often than I ...
- 4,203
67
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Should I flag answers which contain only a link as "not an answer"? [duplicate]
More than often I get a lot of itch when I see an answer which contains only a link. For example this one.
Check this link, it will solve your query..
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/...
user138231
1
vote
1
answer
27
views
Add "New answers from new users" to 10K tools links
We have "new posts from new users" and "new answers to old questions". I'd love to see "new answers from new users". There are a lot of "thanks" and "me too" posts coming from new users, and this ...
user27414
7
votes
3
answers
301
views
How to educate people about non-answers?
I often run into "answers" on the Stack Exchange sites that are really comments or replies. The phrase "This is not a message board" is accurate, but maybe a little harsh. I know about flagging and ...
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24
votes
3
answers
3k
views
When should you decide whether to flag a posted answer as Not an answer? [duplicate]
I've run into this situation a couple of times, where people give an "answer" that basically repeats the problem in the original question. (Not going to give examples here obviously, but it's happened....
- 14k
23
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Function to convert an answer to a new question [duplicate]
My apologies if this is a repeat, I searched, but I couldn't find anything quite like this.
There are times when users (particularly very new users) post a question as an answer to an existing ...
- 1,602