Questions tagged [answers]

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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
14 votes
3 answers
740 views

Should one answer one's own question? [duplicate]

And if one does, is it bad form to then select one's own answer as the preferred one? Here's the particular case I have in mind: How do I add a program that must be run from within its own directory ...
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
2 votes
2 answers
159 views

On what basis is the position of an answer decided?

Consider a situation where there are multiple answers on a single question. By how much do these factors weigh in when deciding the position of an answer in top to bottom order? Number of up votes ...
Sumeet Deshmukh's user avatar
-2 votes
1 answer
117 views

Moderators should be able to mark questions as answered

I know about similar requests, but after stumbling over this question (just an example; question poster answered himself using edits instead of an answer) I thought you should at least add an option ...
Byte Commander's user avatar
  • 107k
21 votes
1 answer
367 views

Please don't flag link-only answers as Very Low Quality

Lately I notice that many link-only (or link-mainly) answers are being flagged as Very Low Quality, so I am taking to meta to ask y'all to use the Not An Answer flag for link-only answer (LOA) posts ...
Zanna's user avatar
  • 70.4k
16 votes
3 answers
594 views

Me-too post? Or partial answer?

Where do we draw the line between "I'm having the same problem, too" posts and partial answers? This answer and its comments are what have motivated me to ask this. But I'm hoping for a ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
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
13 votes
2 answers
361 views

Another "why was my answer deleted" looking for advice to be better

I am new to posting questions and answers on SE, although not new to using the various SE resources. I also get the need for questions and answers to be concise and accurate, we all need answers and ...
Jools's user avatar
  • 31
12 votes
3 answers
222 views

What should I (or we) do about answers that obviously miss the point of the question entirely?

I came across this answer to “Adobe PDF for Ubuntu 64 bit 15.10” recently. The question is about installing Adobe Reader on recent Ubuntu releases. The answer explains the whole story with the ...
David Foerster's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
768 views

Should we unpin the accepted answer from the top of the list on meta?

This is the partner to my other question, concerning specifically Meta Ask Ubuntu. Because accepts may have a somewhat different meaning or purpose on meta I am posting this question to gather ...
Zanna's user avatar
  • 70.4k
11 votes
1 answer
191 views

When to add another answer instead of updating my current one?

If I click on the Add Another Answer button, a warning pops up: Are you sure you want to add another answer? You could use the edit link to refine and improve your existing answer, instead. When ...
pomsky's user avatar
  • 68.3k
9 votes
2 answers
187 views

Accepted answer that you don't agree with during review audit

As I was going through and reviewing posts, I saw this one. I downvoted it and then got this message: STOP! Look and Listen. This was an audit, designed to see if you were paying attention. ...
Delorean's user avatar
  • 10.9k
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
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
7 votes
3 answers
127 views

Answers based on Ubuntu wiki

Quite often there are questions to which there is an answer on http://help.ubuntu.com. What is the preferred approach to answer such a question? Should one answer the question based on the content of ...
Octavian Helm's user avatar
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
3 answers
117 views

I would like a moderator to remove the acceptance from one of my answers and give it to another one

Is that even possible? Question here with my answer the accepted one and the one below that a better one! Yeah, I've looked here already but I'm not going to plagiarise the better one; that would ...
Fabby's user avatar
  • 34.2k
2 votes
2 answers
212 views

Is it appropriate to Ask question and provide an Answer to topic which is not mentioned?

Hi, My question is about when somebody have a solution (e.g., specific problem which affect a couple of people), but nobody ask for different reasons. This question is similar as Should we seed the ...
i.raynov's user avatar
35 votes
2 answers
4k views

PSA: gksu is no longer installed by default

Turns out gksu is no longer installed by default. Some things still depend on it so it might be installed on your system - but on a clean install, it seems it's no longer required. As for why, see: ...
Oli's user avatar
  • 293k
19 votes
5 answers
850 views

Should we unpin the accepted answer from the top of the list?

Community manager Nicholas Chabanovsky has posted this on Meta Stack Exchange: Unpinning the accepted answer from the top of the list of answers. On Stack Overflow, apparently, answers are now by ...
Zanna's user avatar
  • 70.4k
18 votes
2 answers
176 views

Should I consider the timeline while accepting an answer?

Assume that, I get an answer to my question that is OK, and i accept it. After a while I get another answer that is seemed to be more OK. Now what should I do? Should I accept the new answer? If I ...
Kawsar Ahmed's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
211 views

Is there an accepted definition of "future proof"?

I was reviewing a question where I noticed that it was recommended to "future proof" older answers. I must admit that even after searching https://meta.askubuntu.com/search?q=future+proof I'm baffled ...
Elder Geek's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
236 views

What should I do if someone makes a bad edit to my post?

I've been searching to see if this was already asked; sorry if it's a duplicate, couldn't find an answer. I've been wondering what I should do if someone bad edits my post? For example, I explain ...
kek's user avatar
  • 490
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
15 votes
3 answers
298 views

Comments in the answer section from new users

This addresses all the new users out there: Every day here I see new users commenting in the answer section and saying things like I don't have the rep to comment but.... It seems redundant that ...
Mark Kirby's user avatar
  • 18.5k
13 votes
1 answer
237 views

What can be done with duplication of answer

Sometimes I found out on single question One answered and after some time another answer which is very similar to 1st (may with negligible too-minor edit), say duplication of 1st answer! Which seems ...
Pandya's user avatar
  • 35.7k
13 votes
3 answers
312 views

Is it ok to comment and see if it works before answer?

Is it ok to comment an answer to the OP because you can't test it, and then you answer if it works? Or should you just answer?
fosslinux's user avatar
  • 3,811
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
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
11 votes
1 answer
337 views

Two answers on one question by the same user

What is the correct thing to do when someone posts two different answers to the same question? Here is my example, I am not trying to say "This user did this wrong!", we have only had a couple of ...
Mark Kirby's user avatar
  • 18.5k
11 votes
1 answer
294 views

What is the policy for dealing with plagiarism?

Over the last couple of weeks there has been a growing number of answers that are unabashed copy/pastes of entire posts from sources around the web. These have generally been pointed out in the ...
matigo's user avatar
  • 22k
10 votes
3 answers
309 views

What do we do about answers which propose to introduce a blatant security risk?

So, scanning recently edited things, I found an answer to this question here which is accepted but introduces a massive security risk of storing a keyring with no password. To that end, I have a ...
Thomas Ward's user avatar
  • 74.4k
10 votes
2 answers
3k views

What is a Work in Progress Answer?

I've posted a Question about thumbnailers and even found a half baked answer, the answer that doesn't work, and then I updated my question with the half baked answer that I found asking to fix the ...
Sumeet Deshmukh's user avatar
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
8 votes
1 answer
81 views

Why am I unable to answer a protected question with 101 rep?

I have more than 10 rep, but I am unable to answer Nvidia driver activated but currently not in use, which is "protected": protected by Community♦ May 23 '11 at 1:32 This question is ...
durron597's user avatar
  • 287
8 votes
1 answer
122 views

Why was my answer flagged as missing sources?

https://askubuntu.com/a/1371070/448998 The Community bot flagged this answer for missing sources: Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further ...
gaazkam's user avatar
  • 295
7 votes
1 answer
219 views

Should almost identical answers be deleted?

Today I asked a question, and I got this answer, however in a few minutes another answer was posted: Now this answer is almost identical to the first: Except for the fact that it does not give an ...
user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
248 views

Why does Recommend Deletion have an option for link-only answers?

I have recently joined the 2000+ Club and was awarded the privilege of reviewing Low Quality Posts. If you have not yet seen the following question and its answers, you are urged to go through them (...
Aditya's user avatar
  • 13.4k
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
2 answers
185 views

What is the most appropriate way to bring an old/outdated question up to date?

How should one bring an older, but appropriate Q & A thread up to date? Specifically, I am referring to this question. But, I would like to understand what position the community consensus is for ...
Kevin Bowen's user avatar
  • 19.6k
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
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
4 votes
1 answer
85 views

Should redirections to other questions / answers be comments or answers ?

A part of the answer to this question is, in my opinion, answering another "new" question. I wanted to redirect the person asking the "new" question to the existing answer and posted it as an answer. ...
koushik's user avatar
  • 5,072