0

This is a not a duplicate of How should we flag link-only answers?

I want to propose the mods to create the flag for 'link only answer' in the answer flag to simplify flagging them. They are occurring with a very high frequency of late.

I'm talking in cases where a user has asked a valid question and another user is trying to answer it. But the answer given is something like: Check out http://example.com/some-link.

The linked article or blog can theoretically answer the question but I don't think this is advisable especially after reading Are answers that just contain links elsewhere really "good answers"?

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7

Why? It's either:

  • Not an answer (which has its own flag), or
  • A short answer with link that you're interpreting as a link-only-answer.

Whether or not something contains a link isn't the issue.
It's whether it's an answer to the question or not.

Flag accordingly.

I would additionally contend that not all questions benefit from having their LOAs deleted. Some questions are broad enough to the point where pointing somebody at the manual is what is required.

People need to be pragmatic about what the best outcome is and giving them a special firework they can blindly shoot off when they see a link is the exact opposite of logical pragmatism.

3
  • And what if in cases where the linked article or blog is an answer to the question but the user posting the answer just writes something like: 'Check out this link'
    – Parto
    Commented Apr 30, 2014 at 8:29
  • 1
    Haven't you read meta.stackexchange.com/q/225370 ? This was what was linked to in the answer of the other question here. But even without that, you just need to use your noggin. Is this the sort of answer the question needs? Even if it is, there's still a low-quality argument to be made against it.
    – Oli Mod
    Commented Apr 30, 2014 at 8:38
  • If the link dies it will transition from a short answer to not an answer and then be wrongly tagged.
    – please delete me
    Commented May 31, 2014 at 20:12

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .