Questions tagged [answers]

Anything related to posting answers, e.g. about improving their content, voting on answers, editing others' answers, etc.

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21 votes
5 answers
835 views

User tries to do something forbidden by license. Is explaining why it's illegal an answer?

Specifically, I'm speaking about this question: Windows 10 License in UEFI. Long story short, OP currently uses Windows with a license provided by his university through DreamSpark. He's going to move ...
gronostaj's user avatar
  • 57k
22 votes
1 answer
482 views

Two long answers disagreeing with each other - how to canonicalize?

Someone posted a new answer to a rather old question of mine, Disadvantages of partitioning an SSD?. The answer I accepted has 13 upvotes at this time, and I have accepted the information therein as ...
MarioDS's user avatar
  • 1,582
12 votes
0 answers
135 views

Are answers duplicate if they use different aliases of the same command?

This answer came up in the First Posts queue. It uses the Windows rd command to accomplish the task in the question. The accepted answer (from 2010), however, uses rmdir with the same parameters. rd ...
Ben N's user avatar
  • 40.9k
17 votes
0 answers
358 views

Let's do something about all the old link-only answers

We do a pretty good job removing or repairing link-only answers nowadays, but there are boatloads of old link-only answers sitting ignored or at a slight negative score, written largely by users that ...
Ben N's user avatar
  • 40.9k
9 votes
1 answer
284 views

Same answer from different users on different questions

There are almost duplicate questions, and not very surprisingly they have similar answers. But one answer is an exact copy, though posted from a different account. The newer version is slightly more ...
TomáÅ” Zato's user avatar
-2 votes
1 answer
39 views

Q&A Posts - The Question

I'm looking at starting to do Q&A posts here on SuperUser for problems that I encounter, from uncommon problems to common problems. Obviously, the answer will have the most info in the entire post,...
Bilfred's user avatar
  • 663
6 votes
2 answers
421 views

Is this kind of "non-answer" appropriate?

Edit: After posting this question and receiving feedback, I expanded the answer to make it more of a direct answer to the question. So the referenced answer is no longer a good example of the issue ...
fixer1234's user avatar
  • 27.5k
4 votes
0 answers
49 views

How do you know when the asker has read your answer?

Sometimes when I write a pretty long answer I never know whether he/she has read my answer or had just left and decided not to bother with it. I don't however want to know everyone who has read it ...
Racing121's user avatar
  • 1,481
2 votes
1 answer
57 views

Do we flag answers which offer nothing new [duplicate]

I know we can mark duplicate posts but, what if the answer is a duplicate because it's a combination of different answers (all from the answers on the same post)? Are we still to flag it?
Dave's user avatar
  • 25.4k
4 votes
1 answer
67 views

What's the good way to answer "What is the analog of software X for operating system Y?"

I gave an answer today, being just a software recommendation, to a question, asking for a recommendation. If you cannot see deleted answers, there was the software name, a link to homepage and ...
Nick Volynkin's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
273 views

Should I answer my own question? Was I wrong to post it?

Here's my question (oh boy, the meta effect is about to descend upon it): Suppress Google Chrome's "Your Connection is Not Private" for specific Address? Am I wrong to be asking the ...
ArtOfWarfare's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
41 views

What should we do when new users post questions as an answer?

What should we do about stuff like Serge's answer to this question? On the one hand, his question seems similar too the one being asked and it would probably serve well as a comment or something ...
Matt Walck's user avatar
29 votes
6 answers
571 views

Old posts and answers need protection?

As member of SU for more than 5 years, I have quite a number of old answers lying around. Some of them are so old and outdated that today they are just ridiculous, such as recommending the ...
harrymc's user avatar
  • 479k
5 votes
1 answer
88 views

How do we handle duplicate answers?

I flagged a post for deletion that was (IMO) low quality being that it was more of a comment/question for more information than an answer. I had also posted onto the same question a duplicate answer ...
James Mertz's user avatar
  • 26.3k
2 votes
0 answers
50 views

The slider to make the text area taller does not work on iPad

In questions and answers, the text area has a nice slider to make him taller. Alas, on iPad, the slider does not work. It would be nice to make the slider work. Thank you. I have Safari on iOS 7 ...
Nicolas Barbulesco's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
318 views

Old "link-only answers" by a former moderator

When I report answers (new or old) that point to a link instead of answering the question on Super User, they get deleted or edited to reflect our policies. However, I've tried to report this answer, ...
user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
557 views

Is it okay to use headers to summarize content?

About a month ago, I adopted an answering style from Thaddeus of Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange. The new format uses bullet points below a level 3 header with a brief summary of the ...
bwDraco's user avatar
  • 46.1k
18 votes
2 answers
432 views

What should we do with answers that are low quality but otherwise legitimate attempts to answer the question?

In my extensive time on the review queues and 10k tools, there's one thing that's always been bothering me: low-quality answers that consist of no more than a few sentences and often a link to ...
bwDraco's user avatar
  • 46.1k
2 votes
2 answers
111 views

Should I take question quality into account when answering questions?

I noticed this comment from one of our established users: I only answer questions I belive [sic] are extremely high quality ā€“ Ramhound (source; moderator only) Assuming the questions are ...
bwDraco's user avatar
  • 46.1k
3 votes
2 answers
105 views

How is one sentence of unsubstantiated opinion the best answer?

I recently asked a question and received this answer: No, hard drives are in sealed enclosures and these images are marketing shots to give you an idea of the engineering inside. That's it. One ...
Brock Adams's user avatar
  • 2,140
2 votes
0 answers
64 views

How to post trivial answers when that is all that is required?

Often a problem can be solved with a trivial answer, which can be stretched to make one complete sentence. These kinds of answers are often done as a comment because they don't seem worthy of "answer"...
fixer1234's user avatar
  • 27.5k
2 votes
1 answer
122 views

New OPs answering their own questions

Edit: Nevermind. This was a newbie question based on misunderstanding how the site works. Skip to the last edit at the bottom for clarification. Much of the time, new OPs leave a question, get a ...
fixer1234's user avatar
  • 27.5k
1 vote
1 answer
61 views

Should I flag an answer which *tries* to answer the question, but is useless for this *particular* question [duplicate]

Going through the late answer review queue, I came across this answer. While it should normally be helpful ('root' and 'toor' should be the default username and password from what I recall), in this ...
lzam's user avatar
  • 1,430
16 votes
2 answers
302 views

Are link-only answers fine if they link to Super User questions?

Let's say someone asks a question: How do I upgrade a widget for defrobulator?. There are many possible answers, each one correct and the question isn't too broad. (And defrobulator in this case is a ...
gronostaj's user avatar
  • 57k
2 votes
1 answer
39 views

Bug in search results

I did a search for "windows 2000", and on page 2 of the results, I see the following: Notice the last question in the screenshot just says 4 votes. I should actually say 1 vote and 2 answers.
pacoverflow's user avatar
  • 1,975
3 votes
1 answer
54 views

Should I post an answer that isn't a perfect fit?

If I have an answer to a question that would help some people with the same question, but not the OP, should I post it? Case in point: https://superuser.com/a/748752/231678 This doesn't help the OP, ...
Garrulinae's user avatar
  • 1,859
5 votes
3 answers
236 views

Why do high-reputation users tend to have lots of answers but very few or no questions, and am I asking too many questions for my reputation?

After looking through the user profiles of very high-reputation users, it seems that most such users have lots and lots of answers, but very few or even no questions at all. Why? On the other hand, ...
bwDraco's user avatar
  • 46.1k
1 vote
1 answer
176 views

What's the policy on using the same answer to multiple questions about the same thing?

I just found a new method to do a certain thing ... And excitedly wrote/pasted it to all the questions for which this is an exact fit. Then I started worrying if it wasn't the right thing to do... ...
Milind R's user avatar
  • 897
-7 votes
2 answers
56 views

Exception to the minimum answer character count

Sometimes a user just needs a single command line answer. To be most efficient (The mantra of the SE community) it would make sense just to give them a single command to run rather than appending ...
Scandalist's user avatar
  • 3,091
0 votes
1 answer
81 views

Why has a question's post notice been added to an answer?

I just noticed that an answer has a post notice that says "we're looking for long answers that provide some explanation and context...". Why would an answer have answers? It doesn't make sense to me. ...
gparyani's user avatar
  • 1,835
2 votes
1 answer
44 views

Why are some posts text grey or dim?

Just curious as to why some posts appear grey or dim compared to other posts?
Carl B's user avatar
  • 6,650
9 votes
2 answers
853 views

What is the proper way to cite an answer from another StackExchange site?

What is the proper way to cite an answer from another StackExchange site? It is not uncommon to find an answer to a question for SuperUser on ServerFault or StackOverflow. But there doesnt seem to ...
Keltari's user avatar
  • 73.2k
1 vote
2 answers
196 views

Why try to answer if you're unfamiliar with the question?

I just don't get the responses like the comments I see on How to disable blue highlighting of text form field when selected in Word? First two comments are "Can you provide a screenshot for before ...
Debra's user avatar
  • 4,276
-5 votes
2 answers
142 views

Wassup with "answers has to be platform independent"?

It seems that someone believes that SuperUser has to have answers that solves all problems in all OS's. While I strongly believe that each answer is right on its own if it addresses the question ...
Braiam's user avatar
  • 4,749
3 votes
2 answers
78 views

What do I do if someone posts an answer I had as a comment?

This just happened here. I posted a possible solution as a comment (not being sure if it would work for the asker), and while I was waiting for a reply, krowe posted basically what I had as an answer. ...
Blacklight Shining's user avatar
19 votes
4 answers
463 views

Is it rude to answer a question that has been solved in comments?

In this question Make system sounds louder than device A couple different people helped the OP discover the solution to his problem in comments. In cases like this, is it best to just suggest to ...
user avatar
33 votes
7 answers
929 views

Is "It's impossible" a valid answer, or is it a comment?

Sometimes you can see a question like How to do <something> in <some program>, asking for advice how to replicate a feature of competitive program or how to do something that OP expects to ...
gronostaj's user avatar
  • 57k
8 votes
1 answer
180 views

What is the proper procedure for us laypeople to edit an answer?

How do I get rid of adware from Search Conduit/White Smoke? A few days ago, I had this question answered with the assistance of another user. His answer did not entirely solve my problem, however. ...
Michael Jordan's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
56 views

Should number of votes and/or higher answers be listed higher?

Unless Im mistaken, answers to questions appear in reverse chronological order, with newer answers being first in the list. Ive always felt that the accepted answer should be listed first and then ...
Keltari's user avatar
  • 73.2k
7 votes
4 answers
562 views

Comments to a question that should be answers

Problem: A trend of questions being answered purely in the comment field of the question. There is no formal migration of this into the answer format to the question. As a result, questions that ...
Will's user avatar
  • 1,482
14 votes
2 answers
300 views

Should you answer a question that you know will get closed?

There are questions on SU that are sure to be closed for a variety of reasons. Should you post an answer if you have one? I would think so its OK if you know it will get migrated to another SE site. ...
Keltari's user avatar
  • 73.2k
13 votes
1 answer
186 views

Are there optimal days/hours to post questions in order to get visibility and answers?

I know that maybe that's a a silly and weird question, if it's not appropriate please forgive me and feel free to close it. Given the large amount of questions that the site gets daily, it may happen ...
Sekhemty's user avatar
  • 9,396
6 votes
2 answers
244 views

What should you do when you're not receiving any reputation for your answers?

I have posted several answers on Super User where my answers are the only ones posted for the questions, and they have never been accepted, nor have they been voted on. What should I do to ensure that ...
Drew Chapin's user avatar
  • 6,010
-11 votes
3 answers
107 views

Wouldn't everyone who has a post vote down the other posts?

I see how the answer method works here and on all Stack Exchange sites, but, can someone explain to me why those who have answers to a question can downvote other answers. Doesn't this seem a little ...
HelpingHand's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
64 views

Should I ignore questions that require more info on SU

Question Internet Explorer 10 immediately closes after opening ends with, "What's next?" More information could lead to a possible solution. Should I do one of the following? request more ...
ryanttb's user avatar
  • 101
7 votes
1 answer
59 views

Posting question & answer, why must I wait two days to accept it?

When posting a question and an answer together (like explained here) why must I wait two days to accept the answer? If I have understood correctly, the Q&A-together format is meant to provide ...
Sekhemty's user avatar
  • 9,396
2 votes
1 answer
949 views

Dealing with answers that simply discuss other answers to the same question

According to the FAQ, "Answers that are commentary on the question or other answers may be removed". Came across this question with 8 non-deleted answers, 5 of which are fine. The remaining 3 though ...
Karan's user avatar
  • 56.5k
9 votes
2 answers
523 views

How should trusted users deal with non-answers?

Shortly after earning 20k reputation, I've encountered a couple of non-answers and – out of habit – flagged both posts as not an answer. Then, I've remembered my newly gained super powers,...
Dennis's user avatar
  • 49.7k
2 votes
1 answer
82 views

How to acknowledge comments with corrections to post?

Another user has made an important point about an answer I gave, rather than editing the answer directly. What is the appropriate way to give credit to that user when I edit my answer?
washbow's user avatar
  • 564
17 votes
2 answers
905 views

Bad answer repeat offender

There is a certain user I've seen answering some questions on SU that are... well, just bad. Most of his answers consist of a few more questions to the poster (that should be in the comments) and then ...
Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED's user avatar