Questions tagged [answers]

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4 votes
2 answers
157 views

Are there some decisive ways of signaling an answer to somebody else's question as definitive?

Beside commenting and voting are there some other means to signal an answer as definitive when the author did not mark it so? There are some older questions like this that are useful and actual, and ...
user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
10k views

What is the KP+ key?

I don't know how to reply directly to the answer.. https://askubuntu.com/a/7186 What is this person talking about? When I press Ctrl + Alt + K + P + '+'(Shift + '=') nothing happens. It's all in one ...
user988346's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
178 views

If the answerer answers the question in the comments of their answer, should the OP accept that answer?

Let's say the question is: How do I open Terminal Quickly? I have been looking for an easy way or short-cut to open the Terminal quickly, so I don't have to find it in the Dash. And the answerer ...
Mochan's user avatar
  • 1,688
14 votes
1 answer
440 views

How should we handle plagiarized answers?

I see an increasing number of answers that are plagiarized. And, I have mentioned it a couple of times in chat as it seems to bother me quite a bit. I am posting this in meta in order to get a wider ...
jokerdino's user avatar
  • 41.3k
8 votes
2 answers
133 views

What to do with answers that are just a link to a page that requires registration/login to view?

This answer is an example of an answer that is just a link, and to a page that requires a user account just to view. Creating an account on that external site is free. You can even log in with a ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
274 views

When are "you can do this different thing instead" answers considered good?

Sometimes someone asks how to do something that is very hard, unlikely to have the intended effects, or fundamentally impossible or meaningless due to an insufficient understanding of what it would ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
36 views

We need a central list of canonical answers or best answers for oft-seen question [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: What are common canonical questions for our site? When a user posts a question about, for instance, Ubuntu freezing, it would be useful to have a page that list the most ...
SirCharlo's user avatar
  • 39.4k
8 votes
2 answers
263 views

Is it acceptable to make small edits?

If a user edits an answer to make a small edit that increases the aesthetic value of it. Should it be acceptable? NOTE: this is not a duplicate of: How to make small but important edits? That ...
Chirag's user avatar
  • 2,099
3 votes
2 answers
98 views

Should one edit answer to own question?

Is it good practice to edit answer to ones own question? Suppose some one gives a good answer to an OP's question and the OP edits that answer. Is it considered a good practice?
Chirag's user avatar
  • 2,099
5 votes
1 answer
48 views

An answer I provided has been edited and approved. Do I need to do anything?

An edit has been made to my answer to this question. It has already been approved by Jorge Castro and I agree with the edits. Do I need to do anything more?
user avatar
17 votes
4 answers
472 views

Biased votes at answers

That's something I have noticed at many questions in this site. A user with a reputation of 20 has posted a great answer but has not received any up votes. On the other hand, a user with 5k ...
dlin's user avatar
  • 3,830
6 votes
1 answer
122 views

Why can't I answer this question that I originally asked?

I asked this question a long time ago. It got closed because it seemed as though the problem had gone away. However, the problem resurfaced so I requested that it be opened again. And it was - the [...
Questioner's user avatar
  • 6,839
9 votes
4 answers
328 views

Should I answer a question which already has an accepted answer?

The title pretty much sums up the question. If a question has already an accepted answer, should I still try to answer it? Provided that the answer is not similar to the accepted answer, but an ...
Peachy's user avatar
  • 7,117
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is it considered proper conduct creating a question just for the purpose of providing an answer that I consider very useful? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Ought one to answer one's own question? Asking certain questions, I found answers to other questions that I have not yet posted and that I consider very important. Now, I ...
user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
196 views

Hyperlinked answers with no content

I've noticed a lot of questions where an individual has linked to external content to answer a question without bringing in the actual information. Some of these questions, the links are dead (even ...
Brandon Bertelsen's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
580 views

Should humorously bad answers by known trolls be flagged?

When a user has only ever previously used the site for trolling, and then they post an answer that looks like it might be a genuine attempt to answer the question, except: The answer is not likely to ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
153 views

Should bad answers be deleted

If I post an answer that gets downvoted for unknown reasons so that I cannot improve it, would it be considered bad form to delete the answer completely? What if the answer gets downvotes, but ...
Marty Fried's user avatar
  • 18.4k
7 votes
3 answers
104 views

Should I edit a Question once the Answer has been accepted?

My answer to this question was accepted. However I don't believe the question itself will be useful to others in its current state. Is it appropriate to edit a question to be more meaningful to others ...
stephenmyall's user avatar
  • 9,855
15 votes
4 answers
282 views

How to handle duplicate answers that add nothing?

I'm not talking about exact copying, failure to give credit, or one person passing off another person's answer as their own. Rather, I'd like to know what the best practice is when one user answers a ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
112 views

Commenting questions [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Why are you only allowed to comment with 50 rep? When I am in 'AskUbuntu' look an Ask I can answer but I can't comment. And I can see other people that can comment it. I have ...
Lucio's user avatar
  • 18.8k
4 votes
1 answer
154 views

Is it OK to post, and how should we deal with, non-English (or partly non-English) answers intended for translation? [duplicate]

Questions in languages other than English, or which contain non-English text and translated text, have been discussed before on meta. But what about answers that are written in other languages? How ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
104 views

Should really good/detailed "me too" answers have their content merged into the question?

Usually "me too" answers don't contribute much to working on the problem, but sometimes they do, as when they present details that are subtly different than (or more detailed than) what is provided by ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
194 views

Should I flag answers which only suggest "install a different OS"?

I've seen a few answers which are essentially saying "install a different Linux distro, and you won't have this problem". Even if the answerer is acting in good faith, trying to be helpful, but the ...
belacqua's user avatar
  • 23.1k
3 votes
1 answer
47 views

Deleting Older Posts

I tried deleting some of the older answers which I had posted but could not delete more than five. These were the ones which were wrong or out of context or had something wrong with them. Why is this ...
Ashu's user avatar
  • 9,462
6 votes
1 answer
59 views

Should comments that answer a question be marked obsolete after full answers are posted?

Sometimes a comment is posted that answers a question. This is not even always wrong--sometimes the comment is insufficiently detailed to constitute a good answer. Then, sometime later, a good, ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
108 views

Is it a bad answer, or not an answer at all?

On the question Getting MTP enabled devices to work with Ubuntu? , I flagged an answer as "not an answer". It was declined with "flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an ...
belacqua's user avatar
  • 23.1k
0 votes
0 answers
43 views

Is there a way to prompt someone for an answer acceptance [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is it okay to ask a user to accept an answer for his/her question? When one answers a question which is confirmed as correct, is it solely up to the individual who asked the ...
surgemcgee's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
58 views

Should I edit my Answer to this question?

Yesterday I answered this question. Today I noticed the question has been edited and now my answer only makes partial sense. Should I edit it accordingly? Secondly, if it was a decision by a ...
stephenmyall's user avatar
  • 9,855
14 votes
1 answer
401 views

Should I flag "me too" answers?

I am seeing a small issue with "me too"s on a few questions, especially common hardware that often has driver issues, like this question. Should this be flagged, commented, or something else?
nanofarad's user avatar
  • 20.7k
3 votes
1 answer
65 views

Should the question on Application Indicators be updated to include whether they work with 12.04?

I request that What Application Indicators are available? be "refreshed" to show which indicators are still being maintained and usable in 12.04.
user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
300 views

I am concerned an answer I gave will mislead others?

A senior community member left a comment stating my answer was incomplete, even though it worked for me when I tested on my machine. The components he stated were missing were actually installed ...
stephenmyall's user avatar
  • 9,855
4 votes
1 answer
145 views

How do I give credit for someone elses answer to a question?

I have just a answered a question because I knew where the information was (it was part of a response to another question authored by someone else). I gave the credit to that user by creating a link....
stephenmyall's user avatar
  • 9,855
5 votes
1 answer
70 views

Is creating a community wiki answer with summary of all posted tiny answers welcome?

At times I see questions with single-line answers, that are perhaps more useful as an aggregate. Can I combine all such answers into one, and mark the answer community wiki? The particular question ...
Mahesh's user avatar
  • 12.7k
4 votes
1 answer
63 views

Handling questions when the answer is no

Some questions from a literal perspective only have a no answer. I've answered some of these by explaining how one can create a compromise solution that brings them closer to what the OP wants. These ...
fragos's user avatar
  • 3,483
5 votes
1 answer
220 views

How should answers which basically equate to "give up and use x instead" be handled?

Let's say we have a question of the form "How can I make X do Y?" and it is a perfectly valid, on-topic question. Now suppose someone then posts an answer which basically says "Forget X and just ...
Knowledge Cube's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
208 views

Why are the accepted answers always on the top of the answer list?

Currently (from what I can see) the rules for ordering the answers in a question is: Accepted answer (no matter what votes it has) Answer with most votes numbers below the accepted answer Answers ...
Bruno Pereira's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
93 views

downvoting random comments in answers?

I saw some answers where the user just puts in random comment. I like what I read from this link " http://meta.askubuntu.com/questions/1305/flag-answers-that-should-be-comments " but is downvoting ...
viyyer's user avatar
  • 413
10 votes
3 answers
179 views

What should we do about answers with Link Rot?

Many times users simply post an answer to a question which contains a link to an offsite page with little or no context. When that link breaks, what should the policy be to handle those?
Marco Ceppi's user avatar
  • 48.1k
4 votes
1 answer
122 views

What to do when an answer is just a (very good) request for information?

What should I do when I come upon a question that's missing some information, which has been requested...but only in an answer that does not actually attempt to answer the question, nor even to ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
79 views

How should answers to questions that have since been split be dealt with?

I came across Ubuntu screenshot program, which started off as a couple questions mashed together. Although it has since been edited to only ask about screenshot programs, it originally asked for both ...
Knowledge Cube's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
49 views

Allow answers to be shared on Identi.ca [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Share Link via identi.ca I've noticed that your own answers on AskUbuntu can be shared via Facebook and Twitter currently: However, some of us might prefer not to sign our ...
Knowledge Cube's user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
179 views

Making users wait to answer their questions hindering a new user's progress?

Ok so SE has this feature that doesn't let new users answer their own questions in like 6 hours or something. While I appreciate that this helps cut down on whatever big-city problems stack overflow ...
Jorge Castro's user avatar
  • 71.7k
8 votes
2 answers
435 views

Should I flag answers with just a link to another site?

I've been going through review lately and flagging answers. I come across a lot of answers like this one that just have a link with no explanation. Personally, I really dislike these types of answers....
Kris Harper's user avatar
  • 13.5k
4 votes
2 answers
64 views

What is the best way to update a question when something changes?

Ok, maybe it's not the best title... There is a question that was really about a bug. Some person answered with a good work-around that solved the problem, it gets up-voted to the top spot, it could ...
Javier Rivera's user avatar
21 votes
1 answer
279 views

Is it okay to ask a user to accept an answer for his/her question?

Recently I have seen questions where few good answers were given but no answer was accepted and no comment was left on any answer i.e no activity from the user who asked the question. Is it okay to ...
binW's user avatar
  • 13k
1 vote
1 answer
255 views

Understanding apt.ubuntu.com and its use in askubuntu

I have noticed in a number of answers to questions where the use of the apt.ubuntu.com (I think this is what I recall) is employed to assist with the installation of some Ubuntu package that may not ...
Kory Wnuk's user avatar
  • 1,501
28 votes
6 answers
871 views

How can we improve the site's answered rate?

According to this our answered rate (percentage of questions with an upvoted answer) is now 76%. We took a big hit with the number of new questions for 12.04/12.10 and the difficulty of being able to ...
Jorge Castro's user avatar
  • 71.7k
1 vote
0 answers
88 views

I figured out the answer to my question, should I remove it or post it. [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is it appropriate to Ask question and provide an Answer to topic which is not mentioned? I just posted a question and a little while after posting I found out the answer. ...
joon's user avatar
  • 1,709
18 votes
1 answer
168 views

Flag answers that should be comments?

As new users can't comment, they sometimes posts answers that would have been comments if they could. Should we flag them so they can be cleaned up properly, or leave them alone because that's how the ...
Egil's user avatar
  • 14.2k
37 votes
3 answers
660 views

Is it possible to ask a Question you already know and answer it

After reading this question: Ought one to answer one's own question? what happens in the case that you know several questions that will further help the community but you want to make the question ...
Luis Alvarado's user avatar