27
votes
Accepted
If my answer does not solve the OP's question, should I delete it?
It may solve someone else's related problem, so leave it.
However
Link-only answers are not welcome here. Please post at least a summary of the steps involved.
- 190k
27
votes
Accepted
When do comments become answers?
There are few things more frustrating —from a site management point of view— than seeing somebody write an short answer as a comment, the OP say "Thanks that worked" and then everybody just walk away.
...
OliMod
- 287k
26
votes
I'm probably going to get skewered for this -- You can be rude and still provide a perfectly suitable answer to a question
I'm afraid this is something that simply isn't up for discussion. Yes, we want to build a resource of useful knowledge and technical help. However, just as importantly, we want t build a civil and ...
- 96.8k
23
votes
Accepted
Two answers on one question by the same user
It's an occasional practice for users to post two or more answers to the same question. It may be done for several reasons:
To split specific use-cases into separate posts, which may require specific ...
- 102k
22
votes
Accepted
What should I do when I find an answer that damages my system but I don't have enough reputation to comment on it?
In this case, I would recommend asking a new question about the troubles you've had with that answer, and include a link. This has three purposes:
It will draw the attention of more senior Ask Ubuntu ...
- 13.9k
20
votes
Accepted
Answering a question using an answer from another post
Here's how I see it. There are a few situations.
Exact Duplicate
If the questions are asking the same thing, and you see one question has a proper solution, then it would be better to use the ...
- 19.3k
20
votes
Editor wars aside, can we use sudo nano when talking to non-experts?
We should absolutely not be recommending the use of gedit as root (through gksu or worse, sudo) to any user, professional or otherwise. See my answer here for reasoning, as well as a similar thread ...
- 33.5k
20
votes
Can I reuse my own answers outside of Ask Ubuntu?
IANAL but,
Material posted on Stack Exchange sites is owned by its author (you) and made available under the CC BY-SA Creative Commons license.
As the owner of the material, you are free to do ...
ZannaMod
- 68.6k
19
votes
Accepted
What happens if I think that my answer is more valid than the accepted one?
It's up to the person who asked to determine the best answer, and many times the person never comes back to check to see if newer answers get better.
I wouldn't worry about it, the community will ...
- 70.3k
19
votes
What happens if I think that my answer is more valid than the accepted one?
Usually, nothing. If the other answer is flat out wrong, downvote it and leave a comment explaining why. You can also leave a comment for the OP informing them of why it's wrong.
If the other answer ...
- 96.8k
19
votes
Another "why was my answer deleted" looking for advice to be better
It was flagged and subsequently deleted for not being "an answer". I think that was fair. It was clear you were only trying to be helpful but what was posted would have been better suited as a comment....
OliMod
- 287k
19
votes
Accepted
Are we being too generous to (incorrect) answers?
Yeah some things look right (so attract votes for effort) but are technically incorrect. It happens to anybody who answers enough on the site.
There are things you can do that are genuinely useful:
...
OliMod
- 287k
19
votes
Should we unpin the accepted answer from the top of the list?
Accepts are a way to indicate what worked best for the OP or which answer they personally liked. Sometimes the OP's choice isn't the best one - after all, many people ask questions because they don't ...
ZannaMod
- 68.6k
18
votes
Accepted
Leaving easier questions for less experienced users
We "high rep" users very much love to see good answers coming from low rep users or users new to the site.
Consider this: all our rep comes from times we also were beginners to the site, and we tried ...
- 140k
18
votes
Is it okay to ask the OP inside your answer to accept and upvote it?
It's not the end of the world, but it's definitely noise, so you can edit it out.
Thank you for reading my answer. Please like, rate, share, and subscribe.
- 84.9k
18
votes
Accepted
Is it okay to ask the OP inside your answer to accept and upvote it?
No, that is not acceptable. What I would find perfectly fine and acceptable is a comment asking for acceptance if the OP said the solution works but they didn't bother to accept any answer.
That is ...
- 7,694
17
votes
Accepted
Is there an accepted definition of "future proof"?
Here's what I do:
Try to be generic instead of mentioning specific versions of things. (This can be hard).
Concentrate on the "teaching to fish" part of the answer. That is, instead of saying "oh ...
- 70.3k
17
votes
Accepted answer that you don't agree with during review audit
The only way to disagree is to downvote the answer. Personally, I think it is an excellent answer that gives the only reasonable solution to a rather silly question. It is certainly the simplest, most ...
- 96.8k
17
votes
What should I do if someone makes a bad edit to my post?
Functionally speaking Zanna's answer is good... Although I would beg you avoid rollback wars.
That is to say if they rollback your rollback, don't rollback again. Raise a flag for a moderators on ...
OliMod
- 287k
16
votes
Accepted
How to deal with users that won't mark duplicate but instead copy-paste their answers agan and again
Personally I don't upvote answers to questions which are clearly duplicates ("clearly" = I can find an almost exact duplicate in the first three pages using the search function or in the first page ...
- 35.1k
16
votes
Accepted
Delete own answer if somebody posts a more thorough answer later?
Keep the answer there. Deleting should be done when your content is entirely wrong. If your answer provides valid content, then keep it.
Let the OP decide what is the better answer. The other ...
- 102k
16
votes
Can a workaround count as an answer?
"Do workarounds qualify as answers or rather as comments?"
Answer. When nothing else works it is an answer...
But ...
"install the driver of a sibling printer "
... is not a workaround but ...
- 289k
16
votes
How do you ask OP to reconsider accepted answer and award yours?
Honestly? Just don't do it.
The OP gets notified about every new answer to their question, so you can assume they've either seen it already or they have no interest in checking their notifications. ...
ZannaMod
- 68.6k
16
votes
What if someone just thanked answerer instead of accepting that answer?
For the general case, accepting an answer is a privilege that is enjoyed only by the OP (original poster) of the question. If OP is a new user and presumably unaware of how accepting works, you may ...
- 66k
15
votes
Accepted
Save an answer as a draft
This feature already exists. Try writing an answer. Wait for about 30-45 seconds. Draft Saved will appear and a Discard button too.
A secret:
From waffles' answer on What are the details/...
- 17.2k
14
votes
Leaving easier questions for less experienced users
No, it would harm the site, I'd even say it would harm beginners - when you are browsing AU you will find really elaborate answers to "simple questions" with much/full explanation about the background ...
- 8,486
14
votes
Accepted
What should I do if someone makes a bad edit to my post?
You should "rollback" the edit if someone damages your post. Click on the 'edited * ago' link under the post
then find the revision you want to go back to and click 'rollback'
(By the way, this ...
ZannaMod
- 68.6k
14
votes
What to do with copy-pasted answers by a new user?
This happens quite often. If I'm not wrong, the system automatically flags identical posts, so it's likely to be looked into by mods.
In my opinion, there's no automatic conclusion to be drawn.
...
ZannaMod
- 68.6k
14
votes
Can I reuse my own answers outside of Ask Ubuntu?
Yes. Content you create is yours.
There was briefly a clause in the Terms and Conditions that —by my reading— had the inadvertent impact of demanding attribution. I also occasionally write technical ...
OliMod
- 287k
14
votes
Re-working another user's answer?
The question is a bit unclear on the specific situation, so it depends.
If an answer is undoubtedly harmful, I'd say edit! Fix, if you can without changing the concept, or include a warning if not. ...
- 81.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible