1
$\begingroup$

This Question has no real answer, only a hint; but it was accepted as an answer. I tried to comment, but I don't have enough reputation for this.

Question 1: What mechanisms this site has to ask the answer-writer to complete his/her answer? Specifically since the answer was accepted by the same person who asked the question it seems?

Question 2: How can you comment, ask for clarifications on some questions when you don't have enough reputation?

$\endgroup$
7
  • $\begingroup$ If you are interested only in this particular case, you should use the (specific-answer) tag, see the tag-info. If your intention is to discuss a more general issue and the link in your post servers only an illustration, then this tag should not be used - but you should probably clarify that in your post. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Aug 26, 2016 at 17:09
  • $\begingroup$ I added specific answer now. However, it forced me to add another tag, so I added support? $\endgroup$
    – Jack
    Aug 26, 2016 at 17:28
  • $\begingroup$ I'm interested only with this specific question $\endgroup$
    – Jack
    Aug 26, 2016 at 17:30
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Re question 2: By gaining more reputation (50 reputation points, to be more specific.). I don't know about other possibility. (If you are very lucky, you might stumble upon that user in chat.) $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Aug 26, 2016 at 17:50
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ BTW as I see you have made a suggested edit instead of a comment. I do not think that that is a reasonable things to do in such situations - such edit is very likely to be rejected. And as you can see, the OP has seen your edit and reverted the answer to the original version. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Aug 26, 2016 at 17:53
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, editing seemed like the only way to break the wall of low reputation. $\endgroup$
    – Jack
    Aug 26, 2016 at 18:27
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I will leave a comment on your behalf, asking for fuller details. You are not far from earning the privilege of commenting everywhere, so best wishes that this happens soon. However the Question is three years old at this point. See also this related Question for the bivariate polynomial case. $\endgroup$
    – hardmath
    Aug 26, 2016 at 19:44

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6
$\begingroup$

I notice that with the specific question, it was actually the OP who figured out how to do the problem and therefore provided the one answer currently seen.

As a general rule it is fine to ask an answer writer for more details or clarifications. This can be a good alternative to posting a new question.

Please note that some people only ask for hints on problems. And some people will only post hints as answers. This is completely fine. So you might not receive a more detailed answer.

If a question only asks for a hint, I would discourage you from posting a full answer.

If you come across a question with a partial answer and you would like to see a more detailed fuller answer, you are free to post this as a new question. Make a reference to the question with the partial answer and explain what further thoughts you have.

In summary for this specific situation I would

  1. post a comment asking for more details.
  2. wait a day or two and if you don't receive any response, then post a new question explaining why the hint given wasn't enough for you to solve the problem.
$\endgroup$
3
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I see, thanks for the clarifications! But why is a hint for an answer fine, by the way? Is this for educational reasons? $\endgroup$
    – Jack
    Aug 26, 2016 at 17:37
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Jack Your question about hints would require longer discussions. Hint answers have been discussed here on meta a few times, if you look at those discussions, you will see that many users are against such answers. You can find several posts about this if you look at questions tagged (hint). $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Aug 26, 2016 at 17:59
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak And to be fair it should be mentioned that there are many user who support hints (some who frequently give hints). $\endgroup$
    – Bill Dubuque
    Aug 26, 2016 at 22:05

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .