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I was reviewing First Posts and I got one that looked like a duplicate of another answer. Here's what it showed me after I failed:

https://superuser.com/review/first-posts/492517

However, when I was presented the post to review, the user information was different. It told me it was a random new user (user#####) with some very low reputation. I am unable to get back to the exact screen it showed me so I can't give you exact information. The answer looked pretty good - because it was - so I went to the actual question to review what other answers existed. The question seemed pretty simple so I expected to find another good answer already posted.

Sure enough, I found the exact answer already posted. "Huh," I thought, "some relatively new member has copy / pasted another answer. They must not understand why that's bad." In fact, the answer I was looking at didn't even show up so I guessed it had been posted, deleted, and was now being used to test me.

My plan was to leave a comment in the review panel explaining why it was not a helpful answer and then flag it for moderator intervention. However, as soon as I posted my comment in the review panel, it told me that I failed the test.

I have two questions here:

  1. Did I get trolled by the review process or is it common practice to change the user information and comments to make it look like a new user's post?
  2. Why did I fail as soon as I commented? How is that indicative of me judging it incorrectly? What if my comment was to say it was a fantastic answer and I welcome them to SuperUser? Even if it is a bad answer and I'm going to flag it, isn't it better to leave a comment explaining to the new poster so they don't think people are deleting their posts for no reason?
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Is it common practice to change the user information and comments to make it look like a new user's post?

This is by design.

It's a audit - specifically to test if you can recognise a good answer.

The answer is manipulated so you are not biased by recognising the name of the user or by his reputation.

I believe you will only see this happening in the First Posts queue.

Why did I fail as soon as I commented?

That part of your question is addressed here Clicking “Add comment” fails review audit

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  • I didn't realize the issue was so widespread. Thanks.
    – Engineer Toast
    Commented Jan 29, 2016 at 18:23
  • It's not an issue though
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jan 29, 2016 at 19:08
  • @Ramhound What's not an issue?
    – DavidPostill Mod
    Commented Jan 29, 2016 at 19:10
  • @Ramhound Allow me to rephrase. I did not realize that complaints about some of the finer points of the review audit system were so common.
    – Engineer Toast
    Commented Jan 29, 2016 at 19:26
  • @DavidPostill - Toast indicated that an issue was widespread, I just wanted to point out, this behavior is by design. So it really isn't an issue per say.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jan 29, 2016 at 19:30
  • @Ramhound OK. Good point. I will add that to the answer.
    – DavidPostill Mod
    Commented Jan 29, 2016 at 19:32
  • The reason you fail the audit, when it provides you a good question, is because your not suppose to do anything with a good question. Due to the type of questions we get, we might need to ask a question, but its also a good idea to look at the actual question ( and its answers ) itself you are reviewing. A good question, technically only should result in two actions, answering it or upvoting it. You can only do one of those things in the review queue process.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jan 29, 2016 at 19:37
  • I think this chicanery also occurs in the Late Answers queue, but I can't recall a specific instance.
    – Ben N
    Commented Jan 29, 2016 at 23:36
  • @BenN You could well be right ...
    – DavidPostill Mod
    Commented Jan 29, 2016 at 23:37

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