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Zanna Mod
Zanna Mod
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If you remove the hyperlinks, there is still useful information, so, by definition, it is not a link-only answer.

There may be a case for adding some information from the links to your answer in case of future link death, but that's up to you. I certainly don't reproduce material from every source I refer to in my answers, but whether I do reproduce something depends on my assessment of how integral that information is to the answer and how likely the link is to die. If I'm referring to highly upvoted posts on Ask Ubuntu, as your answer does, I assume their chances of survival are at least as good as my post's.

Looking at your deleted comment

IMHO A link only answer includes only a link

I felt I ought to add that as far as I know, a post that has multiple links but has no useful information when the markdown formatting is stripped is just as much a link-only answer as a post that has only one link and no useful information besides the link. But even link titles may be informative.

A side note for those who are not familiar with the details of the close voting system: it is possible to close questions as duplicates of multiple questions, so it's not necessary to post answers saying "your question is a duplicate of [this](link) and [this](link)". I would flag such an answer for deletion.

If you remove the hyperlinks, there is still useful information, so, by definition, it is not a link-only answer.

There may be a case for adding some information from the links to your answer in case of future link death, but that's up to you. I certainly don't reproduce material from every source I refer to in my answers, but whether I do reproduce something depends on my assessment of how integral that information is to the answer and how likely the link is to die. If I'm referring to highly upvoted posts on Ask Ubuntu, as your answer does, I assume their chances of survival are at least as good as my post's.

If you remove the hyperlinks, there is still useful information, so, by definition, it is not a link-only answer.

There may be a case for adding some information from the links to your answer in case of future link death, but that's up to you. I certainly don't reproduce material from every source I refer to in my answers, but whether I do reproduce something depends on my assessment of how integral that information is to the answer and how likely the link is to die. If I'm referring to highly upvoted posts on Ask Ubuntu, as your answer does, I assume their chances of survival are at least as good as my post's.

Looking at your deleted comment

IMHO A link only answer includes only a link

I felt I ought to add that as far as I know, a post that has multiple links but has no useful information when the markdown formatting is stripped is just as much a link-only answer as a post that has only one link and no useful information besides the link. But even link titles may be informative.

A side note for those who are not familiar with the details of the close voting system: it is possible to close questions as duplicates of multiple questions, so it's not necessary to post answers saying "your question is a duplicate of [this](link) and [this](link)". I would flag such an answer for deletion.

Source Link
Zanna Mod
Zanna Mod
  • 71.6k
  • 3
  • 67
  • 161

If you remove the hyperlinks, there is still useful information, so, by definition, it is not a link-only answer.

There may be a case for adding some information from the links to your answer in case of future link death, but that's up to you. I certainly don't reproduce material from every source I refer to in my answers, but whether I do reproduce something depends on my assessment of how integral that information is to the answer and how likely the link is to die. If I'm referring to highly upvoted posts on Ask Ubuntu, as your answer does, I assume their chances of survival are at least as good as my post's.