25
votes
Are analogies acceptable as answers?
Of course.
An argument by analogy is a perfectly good example of a reasonable argument which can be used to support a point. If someone asks why X happens in a work of sci-fi or fantasy, it may well ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 134k
17
votes
Are analogies acceptable as answers?
A poor attempt at an answer is still an answer
The bar for what constitutes "an answer" is extremely low. From what you say, the user was attempting to answer the question, which is more than enough ...
- 21.1k
15
votes
Accepted
Quoting personal insider knowledge of production for an answer
The very short answer is yes, it's perfectly acceptable to claim to have personal or insider knowledge, although you may wish to cast your upvotes and downvotes according to how credible you consider ...
- 677k
13
votes
Is this really a good answer?
Q. Is it an answer?
Yes.
Is it a good answer?
No.
Why is it a bad answer?
Because it's a bunch of unsourced assumptions, that's why;
which is no longer able to maintain the cohesion necessary ...
- 677k
13
votes
When the answer to a question may have changed is there a way to recommend a review?
To get an updated answer
There's a bounty reason for that:
To get the OP to review acceptance
There's no certain or by-design way of doing this. Just ping them in a comment (assuming they're still ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 134k
12
votes
Accepted
Why was this flag disputed?
Arguably this lump of text
"if like I said elves have dominant traits that would have a higher
chance to pass through each generation instead of the human ones then
technically Aragon would ...
- 677k
11
votes
Accepted
How should old, highly voted answers that do not meet our standards be handled?
In general, if you see an answer that is obviously bad, treat it like any other answer. If it's not an answer, flag it. If it's a bad/incorrect/poorly researched answer, downvote it. Whatever you ...
- 103k
11
votes
Quoting personal insider knowledge of production for an answer
Is it allowed?
Yes. There is no requirement that answers be backed up by verifiable sources, quotations, or anything else. Answers that are impossible to understand, do not even address the question, ...
- 115k
10
votes
Accepted
Why was my answer downvoted?
I'm one of the downvoters here, both on the question and the answer.
NB, obviously the whole explanation below only engages me. I'm not speaking for the other voters, who may have other reasons to up/...
- 55.7k
10
votes
Accepted
What to do when Very Low Quality flags are not available?
Should we flag as Not An Answer? Presumably this is a bad idea if the answer attempts to answer the question.
Indeed: NaA flags should be reserved for actual non-answers. (For more information, see ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 134k
9
votes
Posting a dummy answer to enable duplicate closure
No, do not do this!
Doing anything to “trick” the system to do something you otherwise wouldn’t be able to do is always a big no no. Adding to that voting in this manner should be certainly frowned ...
- 143k
9
votes
Accepted
I made a poor choice in picking an answer
Are you sure you can't unaccept the currently accepted answer?
According to main meta's canonical guidance:
You may change which answer is accepted, or simply un-accept the answer, at any time.
...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 134k
9
votes
Accepted
Can speculations be accepted as answer?
Acceptance of an answer means practically nothing, other than the fact that the person who asked the question decided that this answer worked for them.
As long as an answer constitutes an answer - as ...
- 38.3k
8
votes
Can speculations be accepted as answer?
Good answers should be backed up with some form of evidence, but that might be partly speculative.
Wild guesses posted as answers are likely to be heavily downvoted if not outright deleted by the ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 134k
7
votes
What to do when Very Low Quality flags are not available?
In the course of analysing flags, we've discovered that "Very-Low Quality" means wildly different things to different people. The flag is intended for unsalvagable posts such as:
woop woop woop ...
5
votes
Accepted
Why was this flag on a post that doesn't answer the question disputed?
I'm assuming your flag was disputed because the answer directly addresses the question asked, noting that the one of the key reasons for the rebellion was to secure vengeance for the death of Eddard ...
- 677k
5
votes
What to do when Very Low Quality flags are not available?
As with most unilateral actions from SE, this one seems to have taken the community a little by surprise.
Parsing out Shog's advice gives you three options;
Editing to fix the problems or ...
- 677k
4
votes
Why was my answer downvoted?
I didn’t downvote but I don’t think it is unreasonable that people have downvoted it. The question asked for a page number, and the only page number provided in your answer was one which you said is ...
- 44k
4
votes
How is question quality determined, for review etc?
Post quality seems to be defined according to the criteria in this main meta post:
Heuristics for detecting a bad answer?
Word checks
contains word "help"
contains word "test" or ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 134k
4
votes
Accepted
Should a comment referenced from wiki be posted as an answer?
"Should"? 100% up to you.
If you don't want to post the comment as an answer (you don't feel confident of its quality, or your Seer said you shouldn't post answers on odd Thursdays, or you expect ...
- 341k
4
votes
Is it acceptable to provide poor answers to your own Story-ID question?
I will say, for myself, that I always try to write self-answers to the same level, if not higher, as my other story-identification answers. I provide evidence, quotes, and if possible, how I found the ...
- 216k
3
votes
How to comment on "There is no in-universe answer"/"plot hole" answers lacking any evidence?
In the vein of answering the question instead of debating its merits, I would write a comment like this:
[Hi, and welcome to scifi.SE. -- new users only] Could you please confirm that you've [seen/...
- 9,433
2
votes
How should old, highly voted answers that do not meet our standards be handled?
Currently, there's really no good way to handle them, as the previous answer notes. They probably should be downvoted, but the sheer mass of upvotes that accumulated on them (due to old age or NHQ ...
- 341k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible