The following is a link-only answer (even to outside Stack Exchange universe):

There's a tutorial and a nicely wrapped class available here.


Note the first comment to the question. This question is begging for a proper answer, including that link but also describing how to use it and what it does in this and other situations. –  Matthew Lundberg Aug 2 at 13:53
See Your answer is in another castle: when is an answer not an answer?. In this case, I'd call that a valid NAA however; without the markup the answer is useless. –  Martijn Pieters Aug 2 at 14:07
FWIW I attempted to "de-linkify" the answer, trying to get an overview / summary of what's on the given link (after all, accept and upvotes indicate the answer is most likely there). Unfortunately, my attempt failed - it seems too much specific knowledge is needed to "extract" a sensible summary from the linked resource –  gnat Aug 2 at 15:48
You should probably flag the question as "poor quality", instead of "not an answer". Because it answers the question. But in a very cheap way. –  Der Golem Aug 2 at 16:36
Well I run an experiment, flagged it NAA and got decline: "a moderator reviewed your flag, but found no evidence to support it". Wonder how hard is to not find evidence when post has comment referring to guidance from community moderator stating "let me be clear: this sort of response is not an answer. If you see this, flag it. Moderators, if you see it flagged, delete it" –  gnat Aug 2 at 23:37
As long as there is no better answer, why not leave it? After all, it does help the asker, doesn't it? Once someone wasted the time to rewrite the tutorial, you can still remove it. Now, there are only down-voted answers, congratulations! –  Anony-Mousse Aug 4 at 7:55
@Anony-Mousse some believe that leaving it there will "repel" better answers: "...When a question has an accepted answer, it looks like it has a definitive answer, and there is not much point in looking for a better one... If a question has an accepted answer which consists solely of a link, this sends the wrong message, especially after the link breaks. Sure, the accepted answer might have helped the asker, but it's not going to help future visitors, and the community should not be penalized for that answerer or asker's failing." –  gnat Aug 4 at 9:20
It seems to me that one of the ideals of StackOverflow is to build a solid knowledge base for programers. In many cases this knowledge is already in stable and authoritative places on the web such as manuals, specifications, and FAQs. In such a case a link to a preexisting answer (as long as it is at a stable URL) is often a good or even the best answer. When it's not the best answer anyone else is welcome to leave a better one. –  Theodore Norvell Aug 4 at 22:12

2 Answers 2

As you can probably guess from the comments and numerous links in the sidebar, it's been hotly debated whether or not "link-only" answers really qualify as "not an answer." Under the latest guidance we have from the Community Manager team, the post you linked to was not an answer because it consisted of a link and no other scrap of information that actually answered the question.

The fact that the link is working and the "answer" was accepted does complicate the decision to delete the post though. There are a lot of better ways to handle this, and not all of them require a moderator.

  • Edit the post so that it includes the information necessary to answer the question.
  • Post a comment asking the original author of the answer to improve it.
  • Post a competing answer that completely answers the question, so the link-only version can be removed without losing any information.
  • Leave it alone.
  • Convert it to a comment so at least the link is preserved.

Of these, "leave it alone" is not really acceptable. It leaves too many broken windows on the site and teaches new users bad habits. Since people will flag a post over and over before they think to improve it, that leaves "convert to comment" (which does require a moderator) as the last option, so I've done that in this case.

+1. Suggestion: remove the "leave it alone" bullet from the "better ways to handle this" list. It is misleading if people does not read until the end of your answer. –  Andre Silva Aug 3 at 13:37
@AndreSilva I still think it's better than deleting the link if it does answer the question. It's just not as good as any of the other options. –  Bill the Lizard Aug 3 at 16:26
@AndreSilva I appreciate the feedback, but I put them in the order I did because they're now grouped as "things we could do" and the last option is "things we actually do." –  Bill the Lizard Aug 3 at 16:41
Hmm... put a convert to comment button in the LQRQ! –  bjb568 Aug 4 at 4:23
Actually in the cases where an answer is really low quality I often find myself very reluctant to edit and improve the answer. After all I won't profit from it. I do the work and the other guy gets the rep? This is not really a good solution. I prefer downvoting and upvoting of better alternatives or posting better alternatives myself. –  Trilarion Aug 4 at 7:29
Down-voting is also an excellent option (accompanied with a comment). –  Duncan Aug 4 at 7:31
@Duncan not in the case we discuss (you have sufficient privileges to see). The answer has 7 upvotes and accept making it look great for readers, it was only meta effect that dropped it to modest +1, otherwise single downvote would be just waste (been there done that) –  gnat Aug 4 at 7:56
@gnat It's still the way I would react. Better one down-vote than none, IMO. –  Duncan Aug 4 at 7:58
@Duncan well it's the way I react too, but observations on what happens next taught me that it's often insufficient. FWIW there is a discussion at MSE about how it feels like at the "opposite side" (of a user getting DVs on otherwise voted up / positive net rep post): Do answers that attract both positive and negative votes benefit the community? –  gnat Aug 4 at 8:04

Moderation is a bit shizo in regards to link-only answers:

If it's old and upvoted, especially if it is also accepted, the diamond moderators don't want to do anything until the link breaks.

Best reserve the flags for newer content, which will be somewhat reliably removed under the same circumstances, encouraging actual answers.

VLQ and NAA flags on accepted answers will always be handled by diamond moderators, because the community cannot delete them, which those flags ask for.

But the flag is incorrect -- "link-only answer" does not fall under "not an answer". –  Frédéric Hamidi Aug 2 at 13:26
In addition, remember that the only outcome for a VLQ flag is deletion of the post. That answer is accepted and has 6 upvotes. So if it's an old, upvoted, accepted answer that is not hurting the site, best to leave it alone. –  gunr2171 Aug 2 at 13:26
@FrédéricHamidi: Please read Your answer is in another castle: when is an answer not an answer? –  Deduplicator Aug 2 at 13:39
Ah, Shog changed his mind again? Call me back in six to eight months, when the consensus is back to only answers like "hey, it's sunny outside today!" qualify as NAA. –  Frédéric Hamidi Aug 2 at 13:43
@FrédéricHamidi: it appears the SE team have indeed, I just had 7 flags declined a few days ago when I hadn't had any declined for many months. –  Qantas 94 Heavy Aug 2 at 13:46
At just over two years of age, it isn't all that old. –  Matthew Lundberg Aug 2 at 13:51
@FrédéricHamidi: Shog did not change his mind, he clarified what link-only answers should be deleted. Road signs should be deleted ('find a tutorial here' is a roadsign), says that post. –  Martijn Pieters Aug 2 at 14:40
@MartijnPieters FWIW Shog's stance in 2012 was "sometimes, they do answer the question - because it's a bad question, or because it's just a really useful link. The problems remain, but strictly-speaking 'not an answer' no longer applies". Compared to what is written in another castle, this sounds like he has changed his mind indeed –  gnat Aug 2 at 16:49
@gnat: right; in the intervening time there has been a lot of confusion over link-only answers and perhaps he gave it a good think-over. –  Martijn Pieters Aug 2 at 16:51
@MartijnPieters wonder how long it will take for this think-over to reach moderators who were conditioned for years to act opposite –  gnat Aug 2 at 16:54
@Qantas94Heavy 7 declines in a row after months of helpful flagging sounds like you stumbled upon a serial flag decliner. To my knowledge, this happens quite infrequently - mods rarely turn off their brain to such an extent –  gnat Aug 3 at 21:22

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