Questions tagged [answers]
Anything related to posting answers, e.g. about improving their content, voting on answers, editing others' answers, etc.
149 questions
21
votes
5
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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 ...
- 57.9k
22
votes
1
answer
485
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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 ...
- 1,622
12
votes
0
answers
135
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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 ...
- 41.7k
17
votes
0
answers
362
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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 ...
- 41.7k
9
votes
1
answer
284
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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 ...
- 4,620
-2
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1
answer
39
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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,...
- 673
6
votes
2
answers
423
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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 ...
- 27.8k
4
votes
0
answers
49
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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 ...
- 1,491
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?
- 25.4k
4
votes
1
answer
69
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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 ...
- 177
11
votes
2
answers
274
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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 ...
- 731
1
vote
1
answer
43
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 ...
- 357
29
votes
6
answers
592
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 ...
- 1
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 ...
- 26.5k
2
votes
0
answers
51
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 ...
14
votes
1
answer
320
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, ...
user33758
3
votes
3
answers
569
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 ...
- 46.4k
18
votes
2
answers
438
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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 ...
- 46.4k
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 – Ramhound (source; moderator only)
Assuming the questions are ...
- 46.4k
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 ...
- 2,180
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"...
- 27.8k
2
votes
1
answer
126
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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 ...
- 27.8k
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 ...
- 1,430
16
votes
2
answers
309
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 ...
- 57.9k
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.
- 2,112
3
votes
1
answer
56
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, ...
- 1,929
5
votes
3
answers
239
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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, ...
- 46.4k
1
vote
1
answer
186
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...
...
- 907
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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 ...
- 3,099
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. ...
- 1,851
2
votes
1
answer
45
views
Why are some posts text grey or dim?
Just curious as to why some posts appear grey or dim compared to other posts?
- 6,650
9
votes
2
answers
873
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 ...
- 74.1k
1
vote
2
answers
198
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 ...
- 4,326
-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 ...
- 4,747
3
votes
2
answers
79
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. ...
- 2,428
18
votes
4
answers
473
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 ...
user201262
33
votes
7
answers
965
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 ...
- 57.9k
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. ...
1
vote
2
answers
58
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 ...
- 74.1k
7
votes
4
answers
570
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 ...
- 1,492
14
votes
2
answers
303
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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. ...
- 74.1k
13
votes
1
answer
188
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 ...
- 9,736
6
votes
2
answers
245
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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 ...
- 6,190
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votes
3
answers
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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 ...
- 349
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vote
2
answers
64
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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 ...
- 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 ...
- 9,736
2
votes
1
answer
955
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 ...
- 56.9k
9
votes
2
answers
523
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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,...
- 50.3k
2
votes
1
answer
87
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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?
- 564
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2
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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 ...
