Timeline for Should we discourage simultaneously answering a question and voting to close?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
27 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 1, 2018 at 22:57 | answer | added | aparente001 | timeline score: -2 | |
| Apr 1, 2018 at 6:38 | comment | added | Jessica B | @Wrzlprmft If I was a new user and saw a question labelled as duplicate, and went to the duplicate to find it was a different question, I'd be pretty confused. The point of this site is not to produce answers, it is to produce question-answer pairs. | |
| Apr 1, 2018 at 0:47 | comment | added | R.M. | @zibadawatimmy See Jeff Atwood's take on duplicates. The upshot is we don't need to be (shouldn't be) overly stringent with dup-closing. If you think the question is different enough from the "duplicate" that further explanation of how the answer fits is needed, it's probably different enough that it doesn't need to be dup-closed. | |
| Mar 31, 2018 at 12:56 | comment | added | Wrzlprmft Mod | @JessicaB: What about the big duplicate indicator we slap on such questions? | |
| Mar 31, 2018 at 12:54 | comment | added | Jessica B | @Wrzlprmft 'what’s the point to keep the question open?' The point is so that others can find the answer. Many questions can have the same answer (eg 42), but that doesn't mean someone asking knows what other questions happen to have the same answer. | |
| Mar 31, 2018 at 12:51 | answer | added | Jessica B | timeline score: -5 | |
| Mar 29, 2018 at 13:45 | comment | added | zibadawa timmy | I'll also note that the reverse sequence of events has happened to me (I think). I think a question is on topic, not a dupe, and that I can answer it. So I do so. Then someone else points out a dupe, or a good reason for why it's off topic. I'm convinced, so I add my vote to close. | |
| Mar 29, 2018 at 12:41 | comment | added | zibadawa timmy | @Wrzlprmft I don't mean to say that I don't understand such closures. I'm just using it as an example of how closures that are, by site mechanics and intents, perfectly justified need not necessarily be useful in the eyes of all askers and visitors. Sure, we can't please everyone all the time. But what if you see a question which you know has an answer elsewhere, but are convinced it would not seem to many like the answer to it is in the indicated place? Perhaps then you both vote to close and answer. | |
| Mar 29, 2018 at 12:37 | comment | added | Wrzlprmft Mod | @zibadawatimmy: Well, duplicate closure technically is about answers. If there is nothing we can answer other than copying (parts of) another answer, what’s the point to keep the question open? | |
| Mar 29, 2018 at 12:28 | comment | added | zibadawa timmy | @Wrzlprmft How do we measure the usefulness of the close reason, though? I've often seen a question closed or put on hold because an answer to the question is in another Q&A. But the actual question in that other Q&A is meaningfully different; related, but reasonably viewed as distinct. One of the answers just happens to also be a really good, complete answer to the new question. In what sense is "an answer to this already exists" useful? It's technically true, but someone who looks at the questions alone may be frustrated by how the questions are different and never look at the answers. | |
| Mar 26, 2018 at 20:44 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackAcademia/status/978372140780146689 | ||
| Mar 25, 2018 at 17:04 | answer | added | Discrete lizard | timeline score: -1 | |
| Mar 25, 2018 at 9:16 | comment | added | Fomite | @Wrzlprmft Note I upvoted the suggestion to re-evaluate. I just also think that the comments came out overly strongly on “I can answer” and “This should be closer” being inherently mutually exclusive | |
| Mar 25, 2018 at 9:12 | comment | added | Wrzlprmft Mod | @Fomite: Right, but if you can actually provide an answer that is more helpful to the user than the close reason, you should re-think whether the question needs to be closed or whether you can edit it to make it a good fit for the site. Many close reasons exist exactly because we cannot provide a helpful answer to the respective questions. Of course, this is not always the case, e.g., if a question is outside our thematic scope, in which case I see no problems with answering the question as long as you are sure that the question is a good fit elsewhere and flag it for migration. | |
| Mar 25, 2018 at 7:29 | comment | added | Fomite | Two thoughts: 1) Unless you’re a mod, your vote isn’t definitive, so one might hedge. 2) It’s been my experience that new users who have their questions closed become ex-users, so one might be willing to engage in a little incoherence in exchange for engaging someone who might otherwise be lost. | |
| Mar 25, 2018 at 7:19 | comment | added | Massimo Ortolano | @Fomite The purpose of closing a question is to prevent answers, so, yes, answering and voting to close is incoherent. As I said, if one knows the answer to an off-topic question, they can leave a short comment or direct the user to the chat. | |
| Mar 25, 2018 at 7:10 | comment | added | Fomite | @MassimoOrtolano Not saying it’s good, saying it’s not “incoherent”. | |
| Mar 25, 2018 at 7:06 | comment | added | Massimo Ortolano | @Fomite That's not a good reason to answer, or we will end up answering questions about all sorts of topics just because someone knows the answer. As I argued in the above question, this kind of behaviour generate confusion, it delivers several wrong messages (see? Answer if you know the answer), it weakens the action of closing, and it generates more incoherence in people's voting behaviour. | |
| Mar 25, 2018 at 6:58 | comment | added | Fomite | @MassimoOrtolano I think it’s incoherent for some but not all close reasons. For example, an off topic question might be worth closing but you might also happen to know the answer. | |
| Mar 25, 2018 at 6:46 | comment | added | Massimo Ortolano | @Fomite One can vote to close and comment to be helpful, or can direct the user to the chat, but answering and voting to close is incoherent. | |
| Mar 25, 2018 at 6:36 | comment | added | Fomite | @Wrzlprmft An attempt to still try and be helpful? | |
| Mar 24, 2018 at 21:59 | comment | added | Wrzlprmft Mod | @Fomite: But if we can make a reasonable attempt to answer the question, why close it in the first place? After all, the main point of closing is to prevent answers. | |
| Mar 24, 2018 at 21:01 | comment | added | Fomite | @Wrzlprmft I would suggest that "the answer is not good" is often in those cases "the answer is a reasonable attempt given imputed information". | |
| Mar 24, 2018 at 10:27 | history | edited | Massimo Ortolano | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 24, 2018 at 9:37 | history | edited | Massimo Ortolano | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 24, 2018 at 9:29 | comment | added | Wrzlprmft Mod | To add to your arguments: Many reasons for closure (too broad, unclear, depending on individual factors, primarily opinion-based) exist only or in parts because such questions cannot be reasonably answered within our format. If somebody answers such a question and votes to close, this either means that the closure was invalid or the answer is not good. | |
| Mar 24, 2018 at 9:12 | history | asked | Massimo Ortolano | CC BY-SA 3.0 |