This post is in the process of being revised and updated to make it more useful to readers today. However, it is still mainly about a change introduced in 2012.
See the following answers on MSO:
(Except as otherwise indicated, links are to answers that illustrate this point, not the question they're answering.) See the following answers on Meta Stack Exchange (which were originally posted on Meta Stack Overflow, back when they were the same meta site):
And there is a quite popular postanswer advocating that any answer that wouldn't be an answer without the link should be removed:
So as George Stocker suggestedGeorge Stocker ♦ suggested when I discussed this with himdiscussed this with him, maybe the community consensus here really is that link-only answers should usually be deleted, after all!
- It raises the post higher in the deleteLow Quality Posts review queue, which is accessible by users withwhere 20kusers with 20k reputation (for posts of scorewho can click -1 or lower)Delete will see it sooner. And, of course, moderators can and do also see delete votes (and may consider them along with flags and other indications of the community's views about a post, which moderators take into account along with their own views about whether or not the post belongs on AU).
- If 6 users select Recommend Deletion while reviewing that post, the post is deleted, even if it didn't get any 20k delete votes.
A flag is a request for a moderator to make a decision and act on it. A flag is, in principle, a request for a moderator to make a decision and act on it. When the review system was introduced and for some time afterwards, including when this question was asked, it had not yet replaced the old 10k "mod tools". For not an answer and very low quality flags, moderators usually waitmoderators would usually wait for some 10k users to help them out by evaluating and expressing their views on the flags by either agreeing and flagging them themselves (adding weight) or disputing themdisputing them (which iswas in effect a way of counter-flagginga way of counter-flagging). Still, the fate of every moderator attention flag (Still, the fate of every moderator attention flag--which does notdidn't include some kinds of flags, such as flags to close questions) is for a moderator to exercise their authority--was for a moderator to exercise their authority.
In contrastThe system has evolved since then, while the vast majority of users don'tand most not an answer flags as well as many very low quality flags no longer have 20k reputation, deleting a postto be handled directly by non-moderator delete-votes is still much more democraticmoderators, because:but it is still the moderators' job to step in and handle flags that are not being handled, or when they otherwise see fit to do so.
In contrast, while the vast majority of users don't have 20k reputation, deleting a post by non-moderator delete-votes is more democratic, because:
Multiple users must participate.
Anyone who can review Low Quality Posts can Recommend Deletion.
Anyone who can review Low Quality Posts can choose Edit or Looks GoodOK, expressing a view contrary to deletion. Enough of these and the post falls out of the Low Quality Posts review queue entirely. (Though there's been some confusion about what it takes for a posts to be dropped from the queue. I'll try to update this when I know more.)
Once a post is removed from the Low Quality Posts queue, among other things, this substantially decreases its likelihood of being delete-voted, as a 20k user would have to find the post on their own, likely by chance (though perhaps while browsing the "delete queue" in the 10k toolsbrowsing the "delete" page in the 10k tools), and decide it was worth voting to delete, and it would have to have a negative score.
The not an answer flag means the post is not even an attempt to answer the question. (Occasionally it might mean that it is an accidental attempt to answer a totally different question, or that the author entirely misinterpreted the question).
Answers that are totally wrong don't qualify. Answers that are malicious, that violate the promotion policythe promotion policy (whether or not they're actually spam), or that present bad techniques that are so deeply and immediately dangerous that even a comment won't sufficiently mitigate the danger should be flagged, typically with a custom flag explaining the situation to moderators. (Or if they're spam they should be flagged as spam.) But just really super-bad answers are still answers.
The very low quality flag should be reserved for posts that are so low quality they cannot be improved by editing. (Of course any post can be "improved" by replacing it entirely with a totally different post, but that doesn't count, nor is it an acceptable way to edit. Totally rewording is sometimes OK, but replacing something with an answer that doesn't express the same idea is not.)
Like the NAA flag, the VLQ flag is not for posts that are totally wrong. Downvoting is for wrong answers; flagging is not.
