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I flagged this answer as not answering the question, since the proposed answer was

Put down the PS3 controller and connect the Xbox controller, it will not turn on the PS3.

despite the question being

When using my PS3 controller as a gamepad, how can I turn it off properly?

However, this flag was declined and I was given the message:

declined - flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an altogether wrong answer

This is not a "technically incorrect" answer from what I understand, this is just playing on the Sony vs. Microsoft console wars. How is this considered an answer? I do not believe that this answer attempts to solve the question in the slightest.

I am frustrated with this, because a similar flag was declined roughly a week ago, but the post was removed post-declination, due to at least one other accepted flag.

Here is the answer that I had flagged as not an answer and had declined. The question asked if a game was playable without a sound card, acknowledging that there would be no audio output, and the answer simply said:

Drivers allow your operating system to identify hardware connected to your PC. You need to install the sound driver, otherwise you will not be able to get any sound.

These declinations are making me less inclined to flag things that are clearly not answers to the questions they are supposed to be answering, as it appears that whoever is reviewing them is not actually reading the flagged posts.

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  • The first link actually is an answer to the question, though it is a bad one. The problem the question describes is that the PS3 controller turns on the PS3 when the computer turns off. The answer suggests using an Xbox controller instead. It's a stupid, unhelpful, and unnecessarily expensive solution, but it would solve the problem.
    – murgatroid99
    Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 20:18
  • 1
    @murgatroid99 the fact that the answer operates under the assumption that the person who has this problem has a 360 controller available, when this was never stated in the question or comments, makes it completely unrelated IMO. No one who is using DS3 to play with a PS3 controller on their PC is going to look at this post and say "oh, why didn't I just use the 360 controller instead? Duh!" The whole purpose of DS3 is to allow DS3 controllers to be mapped like 360 controllers for compatibility purposes. From experience, the entire reason to use DS3 is due to a lack of a 360 controller.
    – Vemonus
    Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 20:23
  • 2
    I haven't had time to take a look through all those links yet, but I feel pretty confident saying that even if they flags shouldn't have been declined, that it doesn't mean someone isn't "actually reading the flagged posts." People make mistakes, even mods, and sometimes people just disagree about whether or not something is Not an answer.
    – Wipqozn Mod
    Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 20:24
  • 1
    An Xbox 360 controller is almost always "available", in the sense that you can go to Amazon, buy one for ~$25, and get it delivered to your door within a couple of days. It's true that it's inconvenient, and expensive, and slow, and doesn't work for anyone, but it is a solution to the problem in question, and that's all that matters when determining whether it's "Not An Answer". A mod (or users) may decide that it's unhelpful and useless, and delete it, but that's different from evaluating a NAA flag.
    – murgatroid99
    Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 20:31
  • @murgatroid99 I suppose that's true, but that also would imply that answers to console-specific questions that boil down to "buy the opposing console" could be acceptable answers as well, wouldn't it?
    – Vemonus
    Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 20:34
  • If someone asked "How do I do X thing in Y game on Z console?" and someone answered "Actually, you can't do it in Z console, but you can do it on W console", that would be a perfectly valid answer to the question.
    – murgatroid99
    Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 20:39
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    @murgatroid99 but that is silly and completely unhelpful to anyone. People who have Z console likely have no desire to go and purchase console W for a single issue with a single game, while people who already have console W would not be looking at the question in the first place.
    – Vemonus
    Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 20:48

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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From the first question:

Is there any way to properly close the controller before closing my computer so that it doesn't [turn on my PS3], or perhaps make it forget about the PS3 so that it doesn't turn it on once it starts panicking?

The flagged answer was:

Put down the PS3 controller and connect the Xbox controller, it will not turn on the PS3.

Honestly you could make an argument either way about this one. On one hand, it does offer a solution: use a different controller. Not all that helpful in my opinion, but that's a downvote reason, not a delete reason.

On the other hand, you could argue that the asker is specifically looking for a solution which allows them to continue using a PS3 controller. From that POV this isn't really an answer to the OPs question at all, and should be deleted.

So what am I saying here? I'm saying it's debatable, and different folks are going to have differing opinions (for example: you and @murgatroid99 disagree). So it's really not fair to claim a mod isn't paying attention based on something like this, since it's really just a case of them disagreeing.

For the second answer, yeah I agree that was a mistake, and the mod who declined that flag realizes they made a mistake.

Here's the thing, though, mods aren't perfect. We make mistakes, as hard as we try not to, but it doesn't mean we're not paying attention. Sometimes we just misjudge a situation, or read a post wrong. Heck, sometimes we just completely fumble and click decline on a flag when we meant to click accept (my first day on the job involved me failing at converting an answer into comment, fun times).

So trust me, the issue here isn't that some mod isn't paying attention to what's going on. It's just that moderators are human, so we're bound to makes mistakes or disagree with other users on specific issues.

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