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It seems that posts often come up for deletion in the low quality posts review queue which are clearly 'bad' answers but answers nonetheless. The answers are often 'bad' because they are short but not blatantly incorrect.

Is it appropriate to recommend deletion for such answers? Isn't the point of the voting system to sort bad and good answers? Is deletion of such answers an inappropriate form of censorship?

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  • $\begingroup$ The answer below is right, reviewing is for low quality answers and not for incorrect answers. Please also see my answer on MSO. :) $\endgroup$
    – Alenanno
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 8:51

1 Answer 1

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The options for Low Quality posts are

  • No comment needed
  • Commentary on another post
  • A "Thank you" comment
  • "I'm having this problem too" comment
  • Different question than posted
  • Link-only answer (and not spam)

"This is a bad answer" does not appear on the list, so voting to delete such an answer would be a bad practice, in my opinion.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm somewhat surprised that this actually got a downvote. It's actually disappointing to see that someone thinks that bad answers should be deleted. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 13:12
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    $\begingroup$ I didn't downvote, but isn't the definition of low quality post "severe formatting or content problem"? It seems reasonable that an answer that would clearly misinform students could be deleted as having a severe content problem with no comment needed. Otherwise, what is meant by a low quality post with severe content problem? $\endgroup$
    – DavePhD
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 17:53
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    $\begingroup$ @DavePhD: Chris's question is specifically for answers that are often 'bad' because they are short but not blatantly incorrect. Take, for example, this one. It's not a good answer but was flagged as LQ. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 17:59
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    $\begingroup$ I can't tell which answer you mean, link just goes to question with many answers, but I think I understand your point. The "cresent moon" answer was blatantly wrong (I wouldn't have minded if it was deleted), but it got edited to lunar eclipse. $\endgroup$
    – DavePhD
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 18:20
  • $\begingroup$ @DavePhD: The link should go right to Robin Ekman's answer about taking a picture from space. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 18:24
  • $\begingroup$ ok, I see, it would be inappropriate to delete that answer, I agree $\endgroup$
    – DavePhD
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 18:29
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    $\begingroup$ I was under the impression that the options you list in your answer above are intended to be used to give constructive criticism to the answerer whose answer is to be deleted. Stachexchange presents the list you give in order to streamline the process if giving constructive criticism by giving common ways that answer can be bad (and presumably what to do instead.) I thought that the reason there is no "the answer is wrong" option on that list is because that feedback is not constructive. However, I did not take that to mean it wasn't a valid reason for closing. $\endgroup$
    – Brian Moths
    Commented Apr 4, 2014 at 21:29

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