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 technical fix is to switch distros, is this acceptable? 

Based on http://meta.askubuntu.com/q/2378/8844, I am inclined to think that answers suggesting using a different OS aren't real answers.  Should I flag them as non-answers, not welcome, or maybe just downvote them?

An interesting recent example of this is here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/139280/how-do-i-install-alientvault-siem-manually/ .   Not the epitome of the type of answer, but I'm inclined to think it should have been a comment.