Declined custom mod flag on a first post/late answer review item

Question

I recently hit 500 reputation which opened up the Late Answers and First Posts review queues to me. I took a look through the available items and was presented with this first answer to review.

To be honest it's not a good start, but, it does go on to answer the question. However, having looked at some of the other existing answers on the question, it became clear that while the answer I was reviewing was indeed technically correct, it didn't bring anything new to the table. As such I downvoted it, left a comment and raised a custom moderator flag on the answer.

Based on the discussion here, and from previous experience of raising similar flags on Stack Overflow, I expected that the answer would have been deleted, but the flag was declined:

While this answer is correct, it doesn't really add anything that hasn't already been covered by the other answers which were posted six months ago as it is effectively just re-stating what has already been said.

declined - flags should only be used to make moderators aware of content that requires their intervention

Truth be told this has me somewhat confused. I thought that's exactly what I was doing!

My thought process was the following:

• It's not spam
• It's not offensive or abusive
• It definitely is an answer

Which leaves the VLQ flag or a custom flag. Past experience (admittedly on Stack Overflow) has taught me to be extremely wary of using the VLQ flag on answers. Yes, the answer isn't great, but a decent edit could make it passable, and if I ignore the other answers on that question then I don't feel it fits the criteria for a VLQ flag (also bearing in mind that the VLQ queue doesn't show the other answers, so it may not be immediately obvious to the reviewer why that answer popped into the queue in the first place - although granted, I did leave a comment which does go some way to explaining it).

Obviously in this instance it was felt that a custom flag on the answer wasn't necessary, so for future reference, how should I have flagged that answer? Should I have worded the flag differently to make it clear that I felt the answer should be removed?

Answer 1

I'd suggest not flagging it at all. Downvote and move on.

Yes, the answer isn't great, but a decent edit could make it passable,

Sure. It could. But mod flags shouldn't be used to say "this needs an edit", because anyone can edit a post. If you feel an edit could save it, either suggest the edit yourself, or downvote the answer to indicate that an answer is of low quality and needs editing or deletion. One or the other will generally happen in short order as active and high rep users come across the post.

Save moderator flags for content that requires moderator action.

Answer 2

I just Skip those kinds of answers. Yes, it would be great if we were clearing them off the site, but I don't have enough reputation to vote to close much less delete. I also don't have enough reputation to downvote answers in anything but a technical capability. I can see privileges that I would like to have, so I'm reluctant to spend reputation.

By using the Skip button, I essentially pass the problem onto someone else. That person may have more reputation and therefore more options. Or that person can Skip too.

When I review, I follow the following procedure:

1. Check if it is spam or offensive. If so flag as spam or offensive. This does not require moderator intervention, just consensus. Once a consensus is reached, the post disappears from the site.
2. Check if it is a comment or question masquerading as an answer. If so, flag as Not an Answer.
3. Check if it needs an edit because it uses slang, chatty text, misspelled words, bad grammar, incorrect tags, etc. If so, edit. Try to fix everything about the post if you can. Try not to interfere with what the person was trying to say though.
4. Comment if you think it will help the person write better posts or if you have or can find information that might help that doesn't rise to an answer.
5. Upvote if you know that the post deserves it.
6. Downvote bad questions (downvoting questions is free).
7. If I don't vote, then I use the Skip button, even if I might be able to use the Done button instead.
8. If you can answer a question, then do so. If the post is an answer to one of your questions, consider if you should Accept it.

Every new post should get a flag, an upvote, or a downvote from a review. Flag if the post clearly shouldn't be there at all. Downvote if you have the rep and want to indicate that in your opinion the post is inferior. Upvote if you think that the post deserves it.

Upvoting is particularly important on first questions. Note that if the question isn't upvoted at least twice, the asker won't even have enough reputation to upvote answers. So unless the question is actively bad in an unrecoverable way, it should get upvoted a couple times so that the asker can participate on the site.

My most common response is to Skip. The usual reason is that the post concerns a game that I haven't played, so I Skip unless I'm flagging. My next most common response is to flag as Not an Answer. If I have time, I like to comment on Not an Answer answers, as they often seem like they could use some guidance.

There's nothing wrong with using the Skip button. It basically says that you don't know what to do with a particular post or that you don't have enough reputation to do what you think should be done. Using the Skip button makes it as if you didn't review. Concentrate on helping where you can rather than tilting at windmills.