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I failed a review audit. It tells me "This post was of very poor quality, and needed significant improvements to be useful [...]". While the answer I reviewd was short, it perfectly answered the question. Since the question asked something which I found interesting, I even tried the answer myself before taking any review decission. It worked perfectly.

Looking at the whole question, there is another answer which is nicer (with a screenshot) which leads to the exact same solution. It has 21 upvotes and a comment stating: "Should be the accepted answer!" (with upvotes).

So, while the answer I reviewd is not perfect. It actually answered the question pretty well and did not deserve "downvoting, closing, or flagging as "very low quality"." as the audit suggested.

Also, since the audit did not show me that there are already other answers, I had to assume that this is the first/only answert to the question.

Here is a screenshot of everything. enter image description here

Related Questions:

Did the review process trick me? I did not try to comment. So this is a different question asked there.

Should we look up existing answers when reviewing? As I learned from comments to my question, it is quite common to click on the actual question and review everything else there. Therefore it is an important question wheather this sould be the expected standard or not. Unfortunately, this is not answerd there either. Furthermore I argue that it should not be standard, but that the review process should present all relevant information. This is also in line with the policy that a good answer should provide all information needed instead of linking to an external source.

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  • I voted to close as a duplicate, due to the fact the duplicate's answer, was written by a moderator. I also answered the question because it's unique enough to warrant an answer. I also couldn't find a better duplicate.
    – Ramhound
    May 7, 2019 at 16:22
  • @Ramhound Hehe. That answer was written more than a year before I became a mod ;)
    – DavidPostill Mod
    May 7, 2019 at 17:12
  • @DavidPostill - It's a good answer that explains the intent of an audit. Does not really matter when you wrote it.
    – Ramhound
    May 7, 2019 at 17:16
  • Ramhound's answer is a good explanation for the example in your question. But recognize that the audits are more about statistics than correct responses to each audit post. The audit system is completely automated, and picks posts based on characteristics like votes. It assumes that the community handled the selected posts properly. Most of the time, it selects appropriate posts as audit examples, but it sometimes does get it wrong, or the process of disguising the example makes it misleading. (cont'd)
    – fixer1234
    May 7, 2019 at 17:59
  • 2
    The system handles the fact that a small percentage of audits will be bad examples by forgiving the occasional "wrong" response. The "stop, look, and listen" warning is frustrating to receive, but the purpose of the audit is to ensure you're paying attention (and not blatantly cheating). If you fail a number of audits in a short time, it's statistically likely that you're doing something wrong, so that's when the system gives you a time-out.
    – fixer1234
    May 7, 2019 at 17:59
  • You can check out how audits works at Meta.SE, right here.
    – CaldeiraG
    May 8, 2019 at 10:51

1 Answer 1

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While the answer I reviewed was short, it perfectly answered the question.

It was a duplicate of an existing answer. It was also deleted more than a month ago for that exact reason by a moderator.

Since the question asked something which I found interesting, I even tried the answer myself before taking any review decision. It worked perfectly.

Did you also view the question before you submitted your review decision? You might have noticed there was an existing answer, that had a great deal more details (compared to the answer you reviewed), that already existed.

It has 21 upvotes and a comment stating: "Should be the accepted answer!" (with upvotes).

These comments should be flagged for removal. When I flagged, the unnecessary comment "Should be the accepted answer" as being unnecessary, it was immediately (automatically) removed.

While the answer I reviewed is not perfect. It actually answered the question pretty well and did not deserve "downvoting, closing, or flagging as "very low quality"." as the audit suggested.

You recognized the answer could have used some work. You should have chosen to improve the answer. Choosing to do nothing about the quality of the answer is one of the reasons you fail the audit.

Also, since the audit did not show me that there are already other answers, I had to assume that this is the first/only answer to the question.

You should make a habit of viewing the question when you perform editor duties. You would have noticed the answer did not actually exist. You could have used this knowledge to choose the correct response.

Audit questions are automatically selected by the system. The system does not attempt to trick you, but it does select audits, designed to see if you are paying attention.

Since it was only a single audit failure, nothing will come from failing a single audit, in the future, you should take more care before choosing a response to a review candidate.

Since there is no impact by a single audit failure, and the audit while not the best example of a good audit, is a valid audit. What this means, of course, is that there really isn't anything to be done about your failure due to the fact there isn't a way to "undo" your audit failure.

Furthermore I argue that it should not be standard, but that the review process should present all relevant information. This is also in line with the policy that a good answer should provide all information needed instead of linking to an external source.

This does not change the fact, the answer was deleted, and it duplicated information that was already provided in an existing answer.

In my opinion you were quick on the trigger to indicate there was nothing wrong with the answer. You have to keep it mine, there was a reason it was in the review queue, some improvements can always be made.

If you were unsure of a decision I suggest you skip the review.

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  • I will be honest. I had difficulty writing the conclusion statement in this answer. I honestly don't know what outcome you are looking to see have happened since there is no way to undo the failure of the audit.
    – Ramhound
    May 7, 2019 at 16:18

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