Linked Questions

9 votes
4 answers
275 views

Do 'Read the man pages...' type comments and answers have a place on Ask Ubuntu?

In consultation with the Ask Ubuntu Community I would like to have some discussion and ideally a firm policy on how we should deal with Answers or Comments that invite people to find their own answers ...
andrew.46's user avatar
  • 38.1k
13 votes
1 answer
191 views

Should comments offering offline support be flagged?

Are comments like this permitted on AskUbuntu: There is a flag for questions and answers to mark them as spam if they are promoting a product or service without clearly stating the author's ...
matigo's user avatar
  • 22.2k
4 votes
1 answer
188 views

Were the "pre-canned" comments intended to be brusque and condescending? If so, why?

I posted this question recently, and after I answered a comment requesting information with something like "I'll try to do this when I'm home", the same user who had requested the ...
Zeiss Ikon's user avatar
  • 5,128
-1 votes
3 answers
229 views

Let's try to explain complex topics to new users in a simple manner

I have lately been noticing that many new users of Ask Ubuntu, who are also new users of Ubuntu, ask questions (probably something related to graphics driver, GRUB, etc.) and many users of Ask Ubuntu, ...
Random Person's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
422 views

When should I answer and when should I comment?

I enjoy helping out on this forum. Recently I have become more active in that. Can someone tell me when I should comment and when I should answer? How do you know which one to use? In the answer ...
walttheboss's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
301 views

Why are so many answers posted as comments? [duplicate]

Every morning I click on the unanswered link and every morning I see many of questions answered in the comments section. When this happens, person who asked the question cannot mark it as answered, it ...
marosg's user avatar
  • 1,303
19 votes
3 answers
1k views

"Can I run Ubuntu on my hardware?" questions: a discussion

Ask Ubuntu receives large numbers of questions like this example posted today asking "I have this [specific device], can I install Ubuntu on it?" These questions tend to attract low quality answers (...
Zanna's user avatar
  • 70.5k
19 votes
2 answers
578 views

Please only advise if you actually have something to say on the subject

Every now and then we run into either comments or answers like below: Question: "Just installed Ubuntu 16.10, and now I am in the login loop. I can use ctrl alt f3 to open the console, but dunno ...
Jacob Vlijm's user avatar
  • 83.8k
5 votes
4 answers
308 views

What to do with stolen answers?

I sometimes see people answering a question in the comments and then being asked to convert their comment into an answer, however in some of those cases someone comes along and sees that answer and in ...
user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
179 views

How can a new user escalate an old unanswered question?

This question comes via an anonymous submission to Ask Slashdot: The problem with "Ask Ubuntu" Say a new user has a problem, searches Ask Ubuntu and the UNIX site for a solution, and comes across an ...
Damian Yerrick's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
296 views

"This is commentary on another post, not an answer" used for low quality answers

I think the "This is commentary on another post, not an answer" comment is used too much on close votes. I'm talking about the following one: This does not provide an answer to the question. To ...
Merlijn Sebrechts's user avatar
4 votes
5 answers
132 views

What to do with answers that should be comments, but get deleted?

As the reputation requirement to comment is pretty high (50), many new users who want to contribute to the site use answers to leave a comment on questions, e.g. to request additional information ...
Byte Commander's user avatar
  • 108k
43 votes
3 answers
1k views

Let's not do "I don't know how to fix your problem, so just reinstall"

Not sure how this question went through multiple reviews: https://askubuntu.com/questions/507573/how-do-i-get-a-zte-mf667-usb-modem-working But we should be more careful when people recommend ...
Jorge Castro's user avatar
  • 71.8k
15 votes
6 answers
275 views

What to do with answers posted as comments?

With questions like this (or this), the OP or someone else gives an answer but it's in the form of a comment, so the question is still marked "unanswered" even though it has been answered. ...
Wilf's user avatar
  • 30.2k
2 votes
1 answer
123 views

If the comment appears to be an answer how should I behave?

I need a bit more extended information on how should I behave in these situations to reduce unanswered amount of questions like: if the comment appears to be an answer provided by me and the user ...
JoKeR's user avatar
  • 6,972
0 votes
1 answer
72 views

Protect EOL questions (or at least this question)

I've read some ilustratives questions about why questions should be protected and why "not" they should be protected, and after all of that I should say that at very least: protect EOL questions, from ...
Braiam's user avatar
  • 67.8k
8 votes
4 answers
284 views

Are people getting "rep shy"? || About "commentswers"

I keep bumping into questions with perfectly good answers that are not marked as accepted or can't even be marked nor voted because they're in comments. Even if you politely ask the "commentswerer" to ...
JorgeArtware's user avatar
  • 3,527
11 votes
6 answers
238 views

What makes a question too broadly scoped for askubuntu?

My concept of 'too broad a scope' up until recently pretty much amounted to "How do I setup Ubuntu server and then, and then, and then...." My understanding is that such a question should actually be ...
Mark Paskal's user avatar
  • 2,900
-2 votes
1 answer
103 views

Does receiving no reputation for good comments pollute the Answer?

As you get no reputation for good comments it makes more sense to add your comment as a answer so you might get some reputation. I have seen that done quite often. Answers given that should really be ...
Meer Borg's user avatar
  • 4,963
3 votes
1 answer
59 views

What to do about answers that offer suggestions without emphasizing that the answer is merely a suggestion?

I have seen suggestions proffered as answers. My concern in when such "answers" don't emphasize, or even hint, that the suggestion is just that and not based on the answerer actually having tried out ...
user avatar
77 votes
11 answers
3k views

What prewritten Pro-forma (aka AutoReviewComments) userscript comments can we use and share?

I'd like to gather a list of boilerplate comments (AKA canned responses) for Ask Ubuntu which can be used in combination with the awesome Pro-forma comments userscript. Post suggestions too, you are ...