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Timeline for How good is an answer without any explanation? And how far should an explanation go?

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Dec 29, 2015 at 15:45 comment added hardmath +1 for articulating your point of view nicely, even though as you predict, it is a bit more extreme than mine.
Dec 27, 2015 at 22:01 comment added zyx I will leave one comment to end this branch of the discussion and allow upvoting if anyone cares. The claim is that there is a difference in sign between the effect on the site of hints (often negative) and of correct partial answers, outlines, suggestions (all generally positive). Given the incentives and freedom to add answers and comments, and the stated effects on redistribution of effort, I find it hard to assign any negative value to correct but incomplete material as long as it is not mispresented as complete. Happy New Year. @quid
Dec 27, 2015 at 21:51 comment added quid @zyx "stop all later answers" is not the only-apparently-relevant sub-case. I do not see what issue you take with "epistemological exercise" given a situation where you engage in some discourse about how I can know and about not taken actions not being observable etc. rather than to state if you disagree or not with the claim I made.
Dec 27, 2015 at 21:44 comment added zyx I do not think responding in terms of (effectively) the only-apparently-relevant sub-case of what you wrote constitutes a distortion. My own request would be to please avoid writing things like "distortion" and "epistemological exercise" at the first sign of polite disagreement. @quid
Dec 27, 2015 at 21:38 comment added quid @zyx on the ps: It depends on your notion of expert. But I did not specifiy it is an expert at the top of the queue so this is moot. More to the point I'd say a relevant fraction of the highest point users "writ[e] partial lazy answers to standard questions at the very front of queue" as do any number of other users (including me at times). I never said they "stop all later answers." Please try to avoid distorting what I write.
Dec 27, 2015 at 21:37 comment added zyx If by significant you mean something people should stop and think about before posting (versus lazy routine of check site, drop a quick answer, return to work): it is very much a matter of how frequent and important and impactful are these cases. The much discussed incentives on the site are to answer, answer, and answer again all the "standard questions at the very front of the queue". If short answers redirect your expertise and limited answering time to other questions without the partial solution, the effectiveness of the site may actually have increased from the partial answer. @quid
Dec 27, 2015 at 21:27 comment added quid @zyx I know it is significant for me personally. And, I know others expressed a similar view. Anyway, do you want to actually deny it is a significant phenomenon or is this just some epistemological exercise? 'If what is relevant is final metastable state of the question then every correct nonredundant reply is positive progress toward "answered-ness".' If some specific temporary progress prevents bigger progress later having it is ultimately a net negative.
Dec 27, 2015 at 21:15 comment added zyx @quid, how do you know it is a significant phenomenon when we never observe the "next user not writing their [longer] answer"? We can and do observe cases where the 2-line answer is followed by a 5-line answer that says it is an expansion of the shorter one. I sometimes write the longer one, and I have seen what happens when I write the shorter ones. It's harder to observe and generalize (accurately) about what does not or might not happen. If what is relevant is final metastable state of the question then every correct nonredundant reply is positive progress toward "answered-ness".
Dec 27, 2015 at 20:14 comment added Jerry Guern I do wish there were more consistent policies on this matter. One day the down-vote trolls are at me for offering a 90% answer, another day I'm seeing multiple up-votes for barely relevant Answers that should have been just comments.
Dec 27, 2015 at 17:47 comment added quid My view on this depends on the circumstances. If an expert goes through a week-old or even just a day-old or let it even be just a couple hours old question and add brief answers to not yet answered questions, then indeed this is likely to be useful. However, if we are talking about standard questions at the very front of the new-queue than this argument partial-is-better-than-none just does not hold water. @zyx
Dec 27, 2015 at 17:47 comment added quid @zyx it can be less good for OP, but it can also be better. An important factor, which you do not acknowledge at all, is that while this alternative may very well be accurate for one particular user viewed in isolation this one user's actions or non-actions have repercussions on future users' actions, and what is actually relevant is the final state of the question after a reasonable period of time not one particular user's contribution. The presence of a two-line answer may very well make the next user not write their five-lines answer. This is a very real phenomenon.
Dec 27, 2015 at 15:16 comment added zyx The alternative is to posting something short and quick, but incomplete, is often to not post anything at all. It would be great to come back later but that is just not realistic where users check the site during short interludes from work. Not posting at all can be less good for OP and everyone else if the short quick thing would have advanced the state of "answeredness" of the question.
Dec 27, 2015 at 10:44 comment added Najib Idrissi @zyx In general I think "do not have the time" is a bad reason to post something incomplete. There's no rush, it's better for everyone to wait until you have the time to post something complete. It's not a race, unlike what some users seem to believe (the FGITW movement is the source of many, many bad answers).
Dec 26, 2015 at 21:43 comment added zyx "Hints" as a way of denying information to OP are ineffective, since others may give full answers, and may be encouraged to do so by the annoying-ness of dropping mere hints. But the negative aspects and inefficiencies created by hints should be distinguished from the positive contributions made by (correct) partial answers and suggestions from answer-writers who do not have the time or ability to post a complete analysis.
Dec 26, 2015 at 19:59 comment added Aloizio Macedo Mod @NajibIdrissi I understand your point of view, but I think you are being too extreme. However, I should note that your observations, particularly: "But consider the consequences too. If a question already has an answer, people will be much less likely to answer it.", are very pertinent. I've never thought about that in this way.
Dec 26, 2015 at 19:53 comment added Najib Idrissi @AloizioMacedo I think quid's comment matches what I think. For a simplistic example, imagine a solution that has two steps.The typical hint will help solve the first step, and leave the second step to OP. Maybe OP will manage, and if they don't you're here to answer comments. But what if years later someone has the same question, manages the first step alone, but not the second? The hint will be useless. Now we have to deal with questions "I have this question, but don't understand the answer... Can someone explain it?" And future users need to sift through 2-3 answers to get the full answer.
Dec 26, 2015 at 19:46 comment added Najib Idrissi And I think it's very difficult to post an answer that will be understood by every single person that will ask themselves the same question. It also fosters the idea that hints are acceptable, and then other users will post their hints, of varying quality. If other users only see full answers, then they will only post full answers. Basically, I think the users who post subpar, not-thought-out-through hints have ruined hints for everyone. If no hint answers were posted ever again on this website, I believe this would result in a net increase in quality of content.
Dec 26, 2015 at 19:46 comment added Najib Idrissi @RonGordon I definitely agree that someone should work out an answer in full detail before posting (hint or not). As for the "it's up to you": sure. But consider the consequences too. If a question already has an answer, people will be much less likely to answer it. So if you post a hint, you should be prepared for the eventuality that your answer will be the only one. And when you answer a question, you help the OP once, sure; but there will be hundreds (it's not hyperbole in general) of people who will read your answer later. You probably want your answer to help them too. [cont.]
Dec 26, 2015 at 19:35 comment added quid @AloizioMacedo in my mind a crucial difference between a hint and a terse answer is that an answer, terse or not, should come with the implicit promise that it is complete (even if initially only an outline) and works. However, I agree sometimes the prefix "HINT" seems there for no apparent reason. There is still a problem there as there is a (at least perceived) lack of commitment of the form described above by the answerer.
Dec 26, 2015 at 18:47 comment added Aloizio Macedo Mod There is a problem here: Reading what you say, you seem not to be against hints, but against non-detailed answers (which you are seemingly defining as hints). What defines a hint is not the "HINT" preceding the answer, but the structure of the answer itself. There is obviously a correlation between hints and lack of detail, but they are not equivalent concepts. Also, it is not clear what is to answer the question completely, and in what level of detail should one person stop.
Dec 26, 2015 at 16:10 comment added Ron Gordon To sort of repeat what I said in Asaf's post: hint or no, do the problem out if you really want to help. How you communicate your insight in a helpful way afterward is really up to you. But do it out and know what on earth you are talking about.
Dec 26, 2015 at 16:05 history answered Najib Idrissi CC BY-SA 3.0
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