51
votes
Accepted
Is it allowed and encouraged to post non-answer joke to low-quality questions?
Posting joke non-answers is not within the scope of the site, so we will delete them(1) when they come to our attention.
Typically, they don't do much harm, though, so usually the poster faces no ...
- 204k
45
votes
Is it allowed and encouraged to post non-answer joke to low-quality questions?
$$\huge{\color{red}{\text{ABSOLUTELY}}}\tiny{\text{not}}$$
quidMod
- 41.8k
40
votes
Accepted
Why did this answer get an upvote?
Unless the upvoter chooses to come and answer this question you're asking people here to read minds -- it's unlikely anyone can do that for you.
People upvote wrong answers for a variety of reasons: ...
- 6,230
26
votes
Accepted
Rude and disrespectful behaviour - user complaining about deletion
Let me briefly answer your two questions, without dealing with the story around them.
When the situation is complex, avoid flagging comments. When we see a comment flag, it is easy to take it out of ...
- 388k
22
votes
Accepted
Adding an entirely different construction to someone else’s answer
It is appropriate to rollback if you think that it conflicts with your intent. Obviously if you want to keep it you can keep it, too.
While in principle it is possible to find out who added what it ...
quidMod
- 41.8k
16
votes
Accepted
Why was this useful answer deleted?
It was flagged as not an answer and I had the impression the flag had merit; being on hold had nothing to do with it. But rethinking the decision, I had made a mistake. The answer is undeleted now.
- 31.9k
16
votes
Is it possible that a high reputation user post a completely wrong answer?
Yes. That is possible, and it certainly happens.
This is why you should usually be critical and vote after reading and understanding an answer.
And yes, sometimes people will vote a wrong answer ...
- 388k
15
votes
Accepted
Reason for downvoting the answer.
People are downvoting your answer because the question called for a proof and you posted a picture. While it is a nice illustration of the concept, it is inadequate on its own.
You might improve your ...
- 26.5k
14
votes
Self-Answer, or Delete my Question?
I disagree that this is only a simple yes/no question. Well the ultimate answer is either yes or no, but you do need justifications. Think, for example, if some user posted another answer saying
&...
- 15.6k
13
votes
Accepted
Reason for Downvotes
There are likely two non-related issues:
The answer you gave uses a development of $\tan(x)$, at least initially without much comment, which is in a way stronger than what is asked in the question. ...
quidMod
- 41.8k
13
votes
Short answer turned into a comment by moderator
This meta post is tagged "specific answer", so I'll frame my remarks accordingly.
The posting of very short "hint" answers has come up a few dozen times here, for example "Is ...
- 36.5k
12
votes
Why did my answer get downvoted?
Generally only the downvoter can explain their actions to you, but having looked at your answer I would say:
your answer isn't "worthy" of a negative score; it happens to have one now. That may ...
- 6,230
12
votes
Accepted
Useless crankpot answers
In addition to Pedro's answer, I would like to point out that moderators should be very circumspect with their delete votes. This is because, unlike deletions by regular users, when a moderator ...
- 51.6k
11
votes
Is it allowed and encouraged to post non-answer joke to low-quality questions?
Allowed, maybe, but discouraged, I hope. If someone has the time to post a joke non-answer, don't they also have the time to post a bona fide answer? I think that if the question is so bad it doesn't ...
- 562
11
votes
Useless crankpot answers
It is not clear to me what your question is. At any rate, the team of moderators is comprised of various people from very different parts of the world with different views on how moderation is to be ...
PedroMod
- 120k
11
votes
Rude and disrespectful behaviour - user complaining about deletion
This case highlighted for me a limitation of the review queue process that might be worth bringing to the attention of the redesign project.
The Answer posted (and deleted from Review) was quite ...
- 36.5k
11
votes
Why this my upvoted answer has been deleted by moderator with no explanation?
The answer was a duplicate of this answer. The general policy across SE is to delete duplicate answers.
DO NOT post the same answer to multiple questions. If one answer adequately addresses more ...
- 27.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Reference Request not a request for a reference?
Such an answer should at least say something like:
The Wikipedia article on {subject} is a good reference, see {link}.
If this is the intended meaning, since it is not clear if it is meant that ...
quidMod
- 41.8k
10
votes
Accepted
My answer was deleted...
Since it's one way of describing a root of a polynomial with Maple's RootOf (see the documentation, for instance ...
- 22.8k
9
votes
Accepted
Why was my edit rejected?
It may be more common to write $\int A(x) {\rm d}x$ especially when we learn about integrals in school. Yet some disciplines prefer the notation $\int {\rm d}x A(x)$, emphasizing on the fact that $\...
- 2,580
8
votes
Deleting meaningless answers?
Personally, I am not a complex analysis pro. It took me a minute to figure out why $\delta(x-i)$ was no good. If I encountered a problem like this, I may have made the same misstep. It's the type of ...
- 26.5k
8
votes
Why was my self-answer deleted?
I guess it was deleted because it's just an assertion without any elaboration or reasoning. Thus it's not a very good answer.
Still, the assertion does answer the question, and I think the reviewers ...
- 204k
8
votes
Reference Request not a request for a reference?
There are several reasons why link-only answers are discouraged. Most do not apply to your particular situation (e.g. when there is undisclosed affiliation).
The most important reason, however, is ...
- 17.6k
8
votes
What was wrong with my answer to "what does $0 \ne 1$ mean"?
Not quite an answer, but perhaps helpful.
When I see a question like this one where I suspect that the OP does not quite know how to phrase what they want to know I try to guess. Then I answer this ...
- 89.4k
8
votes
Accepted
About an "answer" that was posted by OP but looks like his own attempts
When you flag an answer as "not an answer" or "very low quality", the answer is pushed into the Low Quality review queue where other users can judge whether in their opinion your flag was justified. ...
- 204k
8
votes
Reason for downvoting the answer.
There are two questions wrapped up in this post: "What's wrong with my answer?", and "Explain downvoting behavior.". AlexanderGruber addresss the first question, so I'm going to ...
- 9,178
7
votes
Should a new answer bring the problem to the top?
Actually, a new answer bumps the question.
However, it all depends a bit on the way users view the posts.
If you look at the posts tagged rational-numbers, this question is on the top if you choose ...
- 52.6k
7
votes
Accepted
This does not provide an answer to the question
This came up in the review queue and I spent some time thinking about it before selecting that reason. On the one hand, I like the humour and the reference to Fermat. On the other hand, it really ...
- 6,230
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible