A question was posted several years ago asking for directions on turning off auto-complete for their keyboard on their device. In the question, a specific device is stated (Droid X).

Recently, a new user posted an answer that gives directions specifically for a different device (Galaxy Note 3)

The way the question title is worded ("How do I turn off auto-complete when texting?"), this answer is helpful. But the details in the question make this particular answer useless to the original questioner.

What should be done with this answer? It is obviously useful to someone with a Galaxy Note 3, and they could easily find this question when searching for help. Should the answer be flagged/deleted because it doesn't answer the actual question? Or should it be left there as an answer, since it is helpful?

Or perhaps should the original question be altered to be more general, and have a community wiki as the answer with device-specific instruction sections? (Seems like too much work and probably not a desired solution, but it's a thought).

I'm not sure how to moderate the answer, so I skipped it, but I thought I would see what other people think so I know how to moderate other answers like it in the future.

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  • Similarly, with questions for specific older android versions and new answers for newer versions of android. – Stephen Schrauger Nov 10 '14 at 16:57
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    In my opinion: it's an attempt to answer, so deleting it seems inappropriate. It doesn't work for the OP's specific configuration, but if we consider the more generic question, then I don't see any harm in leaving it. It's an unfortunate byproduct of OEM fragmentation, I suppose. – eldarerathis Nov 10 '14 at 17:21
  • I'm still thinking how to improve the quality for this case. This question asks how to turn off the battery percentage on Samsung S5, but there are 2 answers based on Sony Xperia, which are not useful based on the comment. Worse case, I'd downvote them as not useful at all (in the context of the question), but I would also like to know the official moderation on Android Enthusiasts specifically. – Andrew T. Nov 17 '14 at 1:25
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    FWIW, we have this same problem over on Photo, with different camera models, possibly even worse. Newbies are often unsure of what aspects of a problem are brand or model specific and which are applicable broadly. If the question is really model specific, I'd suggest editing the title to make that clear, and then suggesting the person who answered for a different model do a new jeopardy-style ask-and-answer for that model. – mattdm Nov 19 '14 at 0:37

Assuming the instructions for the other device don't apply, downvote.

The downvote tooltip says:

This answer is not useful

Giving instructions for another device that won't work for the device asked about seems pretty "not useful" to me.

If you're feeling kind, also (or instead) leave a comment saying so. "These instructions are for the HTC Foo. They won't work for the Samsung Baz, which is what was asked about."

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imho, leave the answer, just perhaps make sure it is worded along the lines of "by the way, here's how to do it with device Y". Since i'm a newbie, when searching for answers i often find a question that's close and it is definitely helpful to have answers for multiple devices (as long as it's clear what device each answer is for - preferably near the beginning of the answer). Or at least have links to the same question for different devices. (btw, i tried to leave a comment, as others have done here, but being a newbie i didn't have enough rep to post a comment, so posting this as an answer ;-)

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  • Notice: You can convert this to a comment now. – EKons Aug 1 '16 at 19:16

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