For questions regarding the "not an answer" flagging option on answers.
- it is not an answer
This was posted as an answer, but it does not attempt to answer the question. It should possibly be an edit, a comment, another question, or deleted altogether.
This flag option appears on answers only and is used to indicate that the answer makes absolutely no attempt at answering the question. It is not for wrong answers or answers that make some attempt at answering the question; such answers should be downvoted if warranted instead. Examples:
- "This worked for me!" - flag as "not an answer".
- "This solution here didn't work for me, and here's why" - flag as "not an answer" (but see special exception below)
- "Can you please clarify?" - flag as "not an answer".
This option is not useful in all cases, though:
- If it's wrong, downvote it instead.
- If it attempts to answer the question, but is of low quality, or is spam or offensive, flag it as "very low quality" or as spam or offensive respectively instead.
- "This solution here didn't work for me because...but I tried this other solution instead and it worked, and here it is..." - downvote it if needed, but don't flag it as "not an answer" (this is that special exception to the rule above)
- "This is not possible, and here's why..." - That's an actual answer and is not eligible for flagging as "not an answer".
"Not an answer" flags go into the Low Quality Posts review queue for review by 2k+ users. Previously, they went into the old 10k+ queue.
