Many posters ask "Is it possible to X?" when they really mean "How do I X?" Any reasonable person would realize that this is just a common rhetorical device, not intended to be taken literally. But invariably someone will post a comment saying "Yes, it's possible." I think I've even been guilty of this occasionally, but I feel bad about it (my only excuse might be that the question is poor in other ways as well).

An example is Get key/id from array of objects. I will admit that the question is not the highest quality. But I don't think the fact that it asks "Is it possible" at the end rather than "How do I" is a significant impediment to understanding it. The comment "Yes, it's definitely possible" does not address any of the real problems with the question, just the most superficial.

Now that we've got the new Code of Conduct, I think we should try to put an end to this. We're supposed to be patient and welcoming, not unfriendly, and I think such a pedantic, literal interpretation of the question is not welcoming. It's the online equivalent of giving a snarky answer to a "Can I" question when it should have been "May I". These are just common idioms.

Would it be appropriate to flag such comments as "unfriendly or unkind"?

Luckily, I think this only happens in comments. I don't think I've ever seen someone post something like this as an actual answer. But that may just be because we have a minimum size of answers, and "yes, it's possible" isn't long enough.

People often say that in programming precision is important, and this extends to the language we use to ask questions. I think we should also remember that many posters are not native English speakers, and we should try to be more understanding. I have been answering technical questions on the Internet for over 30 years, and I think a significant reason for my strong Usenet reputation has been because I do a good job of interpreting what posters mean rather than robotically answering just what they wrote. This is the way to be helpful.

If you think the wording can be improved, it would probably be more productive to just edit it, rather than posting an unhelpful comment.

BTW, I tried to see there were previous questions about this. But searching for "is it possible" just pulls up lots of meta questions that are worded like this in the title (e.g. "Is it possible to remove a flag?").

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    Can we please stop discussing every single type of unwelcoming / unfriendly / unconstructive comment? – Cerbrus Aug 9 '18 at 12:05
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    If there's another question where this is being discussed more generally, let me know. I'll close this and bring it up there. – Barmar Aug 9 '18 at 12:09
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    Flag them however you please, if you are doing it wrong then the mod will let you know. Do consider if you are going to rude-flag "Yes it is possible, but the question is not specific enough to show you how". Which is what they meant of course. – Hans Passant Aug 9 '18 at 12:14
  • @HansPassant Did you read the question I linked to? I think the question is reasonably specific, although it could be written better. I don't think that's what the commenter meant, I think he was just being snarky. You're also the second person to mention the rude-flag, I'm not planning on that, just the unkind-flag (maybe people haven't noticed this new flag yet). – Barmar Aug 9 '18 at 12:18
  • Should I answer “is it possible?” type of questions? looks related – gnat Aug 9 '18 at 12:52
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    @Cerbrus Well if a single type of comment is very common, it would help explicitly discussing them, so that the commenter know about it as well as the flagger. I'd say that this is reasonably common. – user202729 Aug 9 '18 at 12:58
  • @user202729 how flags work doesn’t change based on the type of comment though. – Cerbrus Aug 9 '18 at 13:00
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    @gnat Yes, that's helpfully related, thanks. – Barmar Aug 9 '18 at 13:03
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    The number of moans about 'Yes, it is possible' is cancelled out by the complaints about contributors not reading the question and so not answering what was asked. 'Is it possible...' questions are mostly vampire lead-ins anyway:( – Martin James Aug 9 '18 at 13:06

As always, I think you need to be careful in making blanket statements about "comments of type X". If someone asks "is it possible to do [very broad thing]?" then replying with "Yes, it's possible, but this is very broad, could you clarify what you've tried and which parts you're having problems with?" is a perfectly fine.

If it's just "yes, it's possible" then that is simple a useless comment which doesn't provide any guidance to the poster to improve their question. I would personally flag it as "no longer needed", rather than as "rude and abusive".

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    I agree, constructive comments should not be a problem just because they include "yes, it's possible". The comment I linked to is the archetype of the useless ones. I don't think it rises to "abusive", but I think "unfriendly" is more appropriate than "no longer needed" (I usually use that for replies to comments that have since been deleted). – Barmar Aug 9 '18 at 12:13

This seems like a perfect fit for most of those comments:

enter image description here

The same applies for other "joke" comments, chatter, noise or general banter. If you feel it's no longer / not needed, just flag it.

If you really think the comment is unfriendly (I don't), or even harassment, then flag it as such.

It's not that complicated. Some of your flags may be invalidated, but that's just part of the system. Learn from it, and adjust your flagging accordingly.


When a question is basicly "Is it possible to do X?", I see nothing wrong with answering/commenting with a simple yes or no.

If that isn't the answer the OP was looking for they should improve the question.

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    If you assume that's the question, an answer would need to justify why they say it's possible or impossible to be a good answer. A comment saying little more than yes or no would be a low quality partial answer and shouldn't be posted for that reason. – Dukeling Aug 9 '18 at 12:31
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    Read the question I linked to. Do you honestly think he meant it as "Is it possible" rather than "How"? The question could certainly be improved, but I think that's the least important problem in it. – Barmar Aug 9 '18 at 12:31
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    @Barmar Yes I honestly think that because thats what he wrote. – André Kool Aug 9 '18 at 12:34
  • Do you ever ask "Can I X?" when you mean "May I X?" – Barmar Aug 9 '18 at 12:35
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    Presuming OP's thinking rarely leads to good outcome. – Félix Gagnon-Grenier Aug 9 '18 at 13:16
  • @Barmar: Easily if you are not a native speaker and not aware of the finer differences. You native speakers always forget this is an internation site and not everyone learn English from early childhood. I consider this specific attitude much more unwelcoming than a clearly snarky comment. Just read such comments as if spoken with a blink of an eye instead of putting every single word/phrase on a gold scale. – too honest for this site Aug 9 '18 at 14:53
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    @toohonestforthissite It seems like you misunderstood what I wrote in the question about non-native speakers, because I think I'm on your side about it. – Barmar Aug 9 '18 at 14:56
  • @toohonestforthissite Oh, I get it. You're saying that the people who write "Yes, it's possible" are non-native speakers, and they don't understand that "Is it possible" is an idiom. I was focused too much on the questioners, not the commenters. – Barmar Aug 9 '18 at 14:58
  • BTW, it's "wink", not "blink". :) – Barmar Aug 9 '18 at 14:58
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    @toohonestforthissite merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wink - to shut one eye briefly as a signal or in teasing - that seems to be what you were saying – Barmar Aug 9 '18 at 15:53
  • Ah, ok. one is intentional, the other is a/the reflex. See, that's one of the problem a non-native speaker has to deal with and which can result in missunderstanding. – too honest for this site Aug 9 '18 at 18:10

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