Thanks for bringing this up. I will add my voice to Zanna's and also state my, rather intense, dislike of that comment. First of all, it is very often wrong. Words like "try" and "might" are absolutely no indication that something is not an answer.

We very often can't reproduce the OP's exact setup, but can offer an educated guess that might serve as a solution. For example, if the OP's issue is that "Program X won't load", it is very possible that deleting the program's config file/directory will solve the problem. I can't be sure, however, since I don't have access to the OP's system. So I'll answer something like "Try deleting the ~/.config/programX directory, that might solve the problem". Such educated guesses are often perfectly good answers.

Then, the comment itself is really rather unpleasant. I know you intend it as a lighthearted joke, but it often comes across as condescending. I know I would not enjoy receiving it. I mean, it made Luke want to box that pretentious little Jedi Master's voluminous ears, why do you think it would be better coming from a Volron? A race that lacks even the good grace to have boxable ears! :)

More importantly, it gives the (wrong) impression that there are magical words that mark the difference between an answer and a comment and as long as you use one of the "bad" words, you must post a comment and not an answer. This is not a message we should be giving new users. I've always found that comment in bad taste, even before becoming a mod and I've talked it over with a few of the other mods since my election and we all seem to find it distasteful. Just not enough so to actually mention it, but since you brought it up. . . >:)

Now, leaving the question of that unpleasant comment aside, using flags to do the job of downvotes is, well, abuse. Pure and simple. If you feel an answer is bad, downvote it! Don't pass your job on to the mods! We already get dozens of flags a day that we need to go through, please don't add noise to that just because you want to keep your rep! Come on!

If a question is unsalvageable nonsense, flag it. If it is just giving a suggestion that could be useful, don't leave that comment and don't flag, just upvote it. If it is leaving a suggestion that isn't useful, downvote but for the sake of all that's modly, do not flag! And yes, of course you should downvote to your own detriment. That's the whole idea. That's why downvotes carry a (tiny) penalty: to avoid spurious voting. Spurious flagging is not a solution to that! If you're not willing to spend -1 rep to vote on it, please don't make me waste my time dealing with your flag, either.

So, the message is i) please don't use that comment. Not on your own laptop and not anywhere else. It isn't really funny, it is flat out wrong and is also kinda condescending. ii) Do not ever use flags as an alternative to downvoting. That is never acceptable and it just wastes the mod's time.

Thanks for bringing this up. I will add my voice to Zanna's and also state my, rather intense, dislike of that comment. First of all, it is very often wrong. Words like "try" and "might" are absolutely no indication that something is not an answer.

We very often can't reproduce the OP's exact setup, but can offer an educated guess that might serve as a solution. For example, if the OP's issue is that "Program X won't load", it is very possible that deleting the program's config file/directory will solve the problem. I can't be sure, however, since I don't have access to the OP's system. So I'll answer something like "Try deleting the ~/.config/programX directory, that might solve the problem". Such educated guesses are often perfectly good answers.

Then, the comment itself is really rather unpleasant. I know you intend it as a lighthearted joke, but it often comes across as condescending. I know I would not enjoy receiving it. I mean, it made Luke want to box that pretentious little Jedi Master's voluminous ears, why do you think it would be better coming from a Volron? A race that lacks even the good grace to have boxable ears! :)

More importantly, it gives the (wrong) impression that there are magical words that mark the difference between an answer and a comment and as long as you use one of the "bad" words, you must post a comment and not an answer. This is not a message we should be giving new users. I've always found that comment in bad taste, even before becoming a mod and I've talked it over with a few of the other mods since my election and we all seem to find it distasteful. Just not enough so to actually mention it, but since you brought it up. . . >:)

Now, leaving the question of that unpleasant comment aside, using flags to do the job of downvotes is, well, abuse. Pure and simple. If you feel an answer is bad, downvote it! Don't pass your job on to the mods! We already get dozens of flags a day that we need to go through, please don't add noise to that just because you want to keep your rep! Come on!

If a question is unsalvageable nonsense, flag it. If it is just giving a suggestion that could be useful, don't leave that comment and don't flag, just upvote it. If it is leaving a suggestion that isn't useful, downvote but for the sake of all that's modly, do not flag! And yes, of course you should downvote to your own detriment. That's the whole idea. That's why downvotes carry a (tiny) penalty: to avoid spurious voting. Spurious flagging is not a solution to that! If you're not willing to spend -1 rep to vote on it, please don't make me waste my time dealing with your flag, either.

So, the message is i) please don't use that comment. Not on your own laptop and not anywhere else. It isn't really funny, it is flat out wrong and is also kinda condescending. ii) Do not ever use flags as an alternative to downvoting. That is never acceptable and it just wastes the mods' time.