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I have recently noticed some answers that were plain out wrong to a subject matter expert, yet they were NOT downvoted.

While review queue allows some chance of dealing with them, I see that sometimes they slip through (especially older ones).

As such, I'd like to propose our own homegrown review queue for "completely wrong" answers - namely, this question.

The rules are as follows:

  • If you see an answer that you know is wrong on the main site, post a new answer to this question. Your post should contain:

    1. Link to the wrong answer

    2. Detailed explanation (with unambiguous proof from canon/authoritative source) of why the answer is wrong.

  • If you see a mention of an answer that is listed as wrong here, but you think that is in error, comment on the meta post about that answer, by adding a rebuttal (again, showing proof).

Examples of way wrong answers (I post them here since they already got downvoted so don't need to be queued below):

  • Is Nagini the snake Harry freed on Dudley's birthday?

    "would of had to of made the horcrux before he was nearly destroyed killing Harry" is 100% wrong since JKR stated in the interview that Nagini was created as a Horcrux AFTER V was nearly destroyed - namely in Harry's 3rd or 4th year.

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  • Took out the second one because I just deleted it.
    – Kevin Mod
    Commented Jan 12, 2014 at 19:38
  • Any particular reasons why people dislike this suggestion enough to downvote it?
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 3:26
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    I didn't DV, but I could see this being seen as sort of vindictive and a sort of "call to pile on." Like, "Hey guys! Let's all gang up on these answers!" I hate seeing totally wrong answers as much as the next guy, but DV, add a comment explaining how it's wrong and move on. Or find a way to turn it into a new question and add the correct answer (I may do this re: some bad Pacific Rim info I've found here).
    – phantom42
    Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 14:13
  • @phantom42 - if it's an older answer with an upvote, one person downvoting won't do any difference. If it's the highest upvoted asnwer (seen that at lease a couple of times), it's actually bad for the site and worth a "pile on".
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 14:38
  • @phantom42 - not to mention that pile-ons seem to be very happily accepted on this site - the last one happened yesterday. totally unseserved IMHO
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 14:39
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    One person, no - but collecting links just to point people where to go downvote isn't just one person. Some of these answers absolutely deserve to be downvoted to oblivion, I just don't know that I agree that keeping a running list of such answers is the right route.
    – phantom42
    Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 14:55
  • @phantom42 - how else can we do it? Flagging for mods is the wrong solution. Review queue doesn't work.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 16:17
  • @phantom42 - here's a perfect example. this thing went through review queue. Reviewer OKed it. Except that this "answer" conists of 2 parts, one completely wrong and one merely copying what other answers already said (at least he honestly admitted he didn't bother reading other answers)
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 19:29
  • Beofett outlines pretty well why this isn't acceptable.
    – user1027
    Commented Jan 14, 2014 at 17:49

1 Answer 1

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Meta is for discussing the site itself, and for clarifying the rules. Certainly this sometimes entails discussing specific questions or answers, but ideally the goal should be that the specific examples are merely there to provide specific, practical illustrations of the policies of the whole site.

This suggestion feels a bit too much like "let's use meta to call out users we disagree with," even if it is really the content, and not the user. I would imagine that anyone coming to meta and seeing a post that clearly called for the community to downvote their post would be... put off at the very least.

But I don't disagree that "wrong" answers could sometimes use a little more attention, particularly if they've received upvotes.

Perhaps a mention in chat would be a more appropriate route, though. Users who stumble on chat and see their posts being called out would still probably be upset, but hopefully the ability to respond in a more conversational way might mitigate this. Plus, it simply seems like this is less "off-topic" for chat than for meta.

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  • What's the difference in terms of "calling out" between this question and this?
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 14, 2014 at 17:54
  • @DVK The first paragraph covers that. In that link, the questions are examples of a trend or type of question that's being discussed.
    – user1027
    Commented Jan 14, 2014 at 18:00
  • @DVK the linked question is asking if they should be off-topic, and thus is about site-wide policy.
    – Beofett
    Commented Jan 14, 2014 at 18:00
  • @Keen - I fail to appreciate how one calls out things by linking to them, and the other doesn't by doing effectively the same thing. I can buy Beofett's argument about off-topicness (I disagree with it but that's at least a valid point); but not about "calling out".
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 14, 2014 at 18:04
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    @dvk, The difference is in the purpose. The "Are these useful" was posting examples of a trend asking if we should change policy. If I recall the related situation correctly, I think I remember that that question was a sort of bitter jab at people closing their question - but at least it was phrased in a vaguely productive light. Linking to "wrong answers" for the seeming sole purpose of directing people to go downvote just seems like it's crossing the line.
    – phantom42
    Commented Jan 14, 2014 at 20:15
  • @phantom42 - Fair Enough. I don't see how this is any different from "low quality answers" queue either.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 14, 2014 at 21:07

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