Should we link to explanations in answers or write the answers out from other sources?

Question

I've just asked this question: Share files with someone over the internet

However the answer I want to accept just links to other websites saying "follow these instructions". Should I accept it or edit the answer to include the information?

Answer 1

Normally answers that only provide links are bad answers.

Reasons for this:

• Links may go dead or the content may change, then the answer becomes useless.
• People have to jump from link to link and from tab to tab when they search help.
• Not every link is a good link. Sometimes the linked sites could eventually be malicious (reason to flag the answer!)
• maybe more...

So what is the recommended way to answer is to include the important contents/steps from the link in the answer and give the link as source or to lookup further details.

However, you are not bound to write another essay to complete and improve this answer (although it would be exemplary and selfless to do so and we would be glad if you do this to improve the site for future visitors!).
But you should at least leave the answerer a comment referring to Help center > How to write a good answer? and asking him to improve it.

I would accept it anyway if it solved your problem, but maybe do not upvote until it got improved... But that's up to you.

Answer 2

One of my first answers was a link to a post I'd written on another site about the problem in question.

I was politely prodded (not by the OP) to give the actual details in the answer, because, for the reasons that ByteCommander has explained, answers that are just links are far from ideal.