103
votes
squeezing for further information once an answer is given
No you are not required to follow up in comments.
At the same time I feel it is not unexpected and rather normal that an asker tries to engage somebody that answered in case something is open.
I ...
quidMod
- 41.8k
86
votes
Accepted
Someone "Copying" your answer after you post it
I am the user who copied your answer Manx. My original post did not answer the OP’s question, so I edited it to yours.
I apologise for copying your answer without mentioning you. I have edited my ...
- 1,936
59
votes
Curious about exceptionally timely answers
Yes, I do on occasion sit and wait for questions I can answer, although usually I will have on some background tv or news. I don't just intently stare at the screen hitting the refresh button every 5 ...
- 12.7k
55
votes
Accepted
Is it acceptable to answer a poor quality question?
Strictly speaking, to provide an answer to a question with bad formatting / lack of context does not break any rule. If you suggested such user to improve his/her question you did the right thing. The ...
- 351k
53
votes
Why do simple answers get more positive feedback?
One thing to consider is that it is rather reasonable to only vote for answers where one is actually confident that they are correct.
For for more complicated answer the pool of potential voters is ...
quidMod
- 41.8k
49
votes
When should I stop answering to OP
While I agree with quid's1 answer, let me add a point I consider very important:
You do volunteer work when you answer questions, and you are entitled to do it on your own terms.
If you think a ...
- 25.5k
46
votes
Is it okay to give an answer with only "Yes" or "No" with no further details supporting the conclusion?
No.
44
votes
Accepted
Is it bad to edit your own answer several times?
Gerry Myerson's reply is factually correct, and I do not want to dispute it, only add to it: The goal of the site is to have a repository of clear, complete, and correct answers. Those answers will ...
43
votes
What to do about extremely similar answers?
If I am working on an answer,
and I see the "New Answer" display,
I keep working until
my answer is done
and then submit it.
If the new answer is correct,
and especially if
it is similar to mine,
I ...
- 106k
42
votes
Is it acceptable to leave hints as answers?
Sometimes the question explicitly only asks for hints.
Rather more often, a hint will actually be more useful to the asker. This is often the case for "homework" questions (when they deserve to be ...
37
votes
Why do simple answers get more positive feedback?
It's the same reason that detailed essays will never get as many upvotes as cat memes on social media.
On the internet, people consume content primarily in a browsing paradigm. Quick and easy content ...
- 26.5k
35
votes
Accepted
If we close "duplicate questions" why do we allow "duplicate answers" on a single question.
Your (hypothetical but not unrealistic) examples are essentially a symptom of the site having many users, which means that easy questions are likely to receive several answers at almost the same time.
...
- 2,440
33
votes
Accepted
Someone edited my answer. Now it is wrong.
You can reject the edit, as the author, or it rollback.
You can leave a comment explaining why you've undid the edit, and if the problem persists (i.e. edits get reapproved), flag the post for ...
- 388k
32
votes
Does the reputation system encourage easy answers and low quality questions?
Mathematics, unlike most other branches of human knowledge and experience, is relatively universal in the sense that everyone has to take some mathematics classes in their academic career. This means ...
- 27.2k
30
votes
Accepted
How good is an answer without any explanation? And how far should an explanation go?
A couple of things to answer your question:
1) Good hints belong here. Bad hints do not. If you want to make a good contribution to the site as an answerer, do the problem out always. It does not ...
- 137k
30
votes
Accepted
negative comments on trivial answers
Unfortunately, I think that some appropriate uses of CW is lost on a lot of users who are reviewing CW posts flagged, inappropriately, as NAA or "this is at most a comment....", and on the flaggers as ...
- 208k
29
votes
Accepted
What should our goal be in answering questions?
Remember that MSE is meant to be a repository of questions and answers for everyone, not necessarily just the person who asks a question. There is room for a question to have answers at multiple ...
- 27.2k
28
votes
Should an answer be downvoted if it is correct (or almost correct)?
There are many possible reasons for down-voting that have nothing to do with correctness in a narrow sense, including:
DVer thinks the answer is too sloppy.
DVer thinks the answer is too terse.
DVer ...
quidMod
- 41.8k
28
votes
Accepted
Specific Downvoting
I understand that the consensus of the community about downvoting is that each one has its own personal reasons to downvote, and should not have to justify that.
Yes, but there is one major ...
quidMod
- 41.8k
26
votes
Accepted
Deduction in rep for downvoting
It helps keep people from getting carried away with downvoting. If you didn't lose any points from it, you could downvote a lot of stuff (and you can kinda see that here on Meta).
That $-1$ point is ...
- 14.6k
26
votes
Accepted
Is it acceptable to provide alternative solutions to proof verification questions after the "proof verification" has been answered?
An answer should be an answer. It should, at the very least, say something about the question that was originally asked. So I would say an answer that merely gives an alternative solution and does ...
- 323k
26
votes
Accepted
My question gets a perfect answer which deserves a bounty (or some kind of recognition). What can I do about it?
As others have mentioned, bounties are Stack Exchange's tool for this purpose. Placing a bounty costs some reputation, but it will have the following effect:
The question is immediately bumped to the ...
- 3,955
26
votes
Accepted
Answering a question too late
From a purely practical point of view: how you answer an older question might be different than how you answer a new question.
Is frowned upon to do so?
There's nothing frowned upon. The only ...
- 26.8k
26
votes
User answering poor question while also voting to close
This is perhaps a little slanted towards the user who answered the question. Here goes:
I've been caught between a temptation to answer and a desire to close before, and I agree it can be an ...
- 60.9k
26
votes
Someone edited my answer. Now it is wrong.
Many thanks to @azimut for notifying me of this discussion, and apologies for the inconvenience. I wrongly assumed that the proof contained a simple typo, and I suggested an edit believing that this ...
- 414
26
votes
Accepted
25
votes
When should I stop answering to OP
I am pretty new in this community and honestly do not know if this question is too out of place here, please let me know and I will delete it.
It's fine. Indeed, if anything it came up too frequently ...
quidMod
- 41.8k
24
votes
Accepted
Should I answer exactly what the user ask or solve the problem?
In a Question where the OP states a problem and then presents an incorrect solution due to misunderstanding the problem statement, it is helpful both to point out the misunderstanding and (at the risk ...
- 36.5k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible