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I have a question about my Super User post: wget.exe in batch script, save result to variable

One of my answers was deleted, but an answer was the only option to post back ALL the code, including THE ERRORS and still keep it READABLE. If I have tried to add it as a comment all the new lines ware stripped and that code looked like a mess.

So what was the logic to delete that answer? IMO it was helpfull as it showed the error, it showed too that the response was received from the server (5 characters) .. and also showed that the thing I wanted most, to capture that response to a variable was still not working...

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    "So what was the logic to delete that answer?" - It was an answer to your question, it was a formatted commentary, the fact it was the only way to do that is immaterial. Commentary shouldn't be submitted as an answer.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 10:01
  • I posted as an answer, not as an solution, if I had posted it as a comment it would look like this (I still had to cut alot of the code because comments must be very limited) : ` .but it still doesn't save the response to that variable , you can see the error about WebResponse variable ... HTTP sent... 200 OK Dimensiune: 5 [text/html] Saving to: push.php@freephysicalmemory=10421416' 100%[===>] 5 --.-K/s in 0s 2017-07-09 16:04:56 (757 KB/s) - push.php@freephysicalmemory=10421416' saved [5/5] Environment variable WebResponse not defined`
    – ovisopa
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 10:42
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    "I posted as an answer, not as an solution," Answers are expected to answer the question to provide solutions to the question. We don't allow answers to answer other answers because they don't fit the Question and Answer format of the site. To me your comment would have been fine as just that, a comment. Either that or as something you attempted as part of your question.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 11:33
  • "I posted as an answer, not as an solution" - This means it wasn't an actual answer. Your going to have to accept the original answer your submitted did not meet the expectation of the community. My original comment should have said "wasn't an answer" by the way.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 11:36

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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It was deleted because it is either a comment or something you tried.

It was not a solution to your question so it should never have been posted as an answer. Answers that are seeking clarification and/or just saying "Thanks!" will be deleted.

If you want to clarify things such as explaining code that didn't quite work or other items you have tried then you can edit your question. You'd probably then want to leave a comment on the relevant answer saying "I've updated my question showing how that didn't work."

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  • It feels weird for me, you suggest that I should update my initial question to insert the code I received as an answer, but still NOT WORKING, and than let the guy that tried to help me know that the code is not working for me ? This is in your opinion a better way to post the errors I get after trying the code received from others ?
    – ovisopa
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 11:05
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    It's definitely better than posting an answer that isn't an answer. Answers are not fixed in order as they would be on a forum so you cannot guarantee that your post will ever be "below" the other answer. Answers are considered to be individual and self-contained. They should never rely on other answers purely because if one answer relies on another then it means that a future visitor must go searching around to figure out just where this tidbit of information fits in. So yes, information on what you have tried and where that failed should be in your question.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 11:26
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    Answers should never be used to say "thanks", "me too", "I tried this and..." So edit your question, link to the relevant answer, say you tried it, say you got a particular set of results. Don't expect people to try and guess which answer you might be referring to when you say "thanks to @guy, but this doesn't work". This site isn't a forum, we don't want it to be, and we have a particular way of working. Posting details that should be in your question as an answer isn't one of those ways.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 11:30
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    Indeed this is way different than a forum :) I will get used to it
    – ovisopa
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 12:56
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  • At first glance, your answer looks like it is saying “Thank you, @<username>,” and then showing the output of the other user’s code.  People who are accustomed to forums believe that it’s appropriate to post a new answer to say “Thank you” for another answer.  In our Q&A format, that is not appropriate; as I mentioned in my comment, the way to do that is to accept and/or upvote the answer.  (Judicious use of brief “thank you” comments is usually tolerated.)  People (incorrectly) write answers just to say “thank you” for another answer so frequently that it is one of our standard reasons for deleting answers.

  • On closer look, one can see that you are saying “Thank you for trying, @<username>, BUT your answer doesn’t work.”  I agree with all the other people who have said that that’s inappropriate for an answer, and should have been edited into the question.

    Here’s an angle that nobody else has addressed, as far as I can tell: You still consider your problem unsolved.  (Am I right?)  You’re still looking for a solution.  One of the people who are already involved in the question might still come up with an answer that works, but you also need to hope that fresh eyes will read your question and devise new approaches.  You need those people to know what’s been tried unsuccessfully — whether it was your idea or not — so they know what not to try, and/or what to improve upon.  You need these potential new answer-writers to be able to get all the information they need to know about your problem by reading your question.  They shouldn’t have to read all the answers to find out what you already know about what doesn’t work.

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    +1, especially for "They shouldn’t have to read all the answers to find out what you already know about what doesn’t work."
    – Kamil Maciorowski
    Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 6:01
  • Yes, Scott, I'm still using for an solution as the one i received it doesn't work, the first reply from LotPings had some issues even for the section of my script that worked before, he fixed that, but I still don't have answer to my initial question "how to save the response to a variable" , I'm exactly where I was before posting. You guys keep saying to press the arrow UP to say thank you, but you all forget that new users can't do that, I did tried to press that button before posting back, but as my reputation is low, "my vote" doesn't count
    – ovisopa
    Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 12:17
  • @ovisopa - So submit a single quality answer a single question you know the answer to. However, your lack of reputation not allowing to upvote an answer, isn't relevant when it comes to submitting an answer. What we expect from an answer is pretty straight forward, an answer should not be used to provide additional information (or ask additional questions) it should be used for one purpose only: to answer the question. Of course the ability to upvote is awarded at 15 reputation points
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 17:09

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