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At the moment, when on the low-quality posts review queue, the Recommend Deletion options produces the following menu:

Current Deletion Options

So often, questions on the LQP queue are acceptable answers but just lack any citations or evidence pertaining to their answer.

Could we add a delete comment for this?

My suggestion is:

"Please edit your answer to explain why it is right, ideally with references. Without evidence to back up your answer you cannot prove that it is right.

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  • 1
    These are network-wide. If you want to add a references comment, do it before you vote to delete.
    – Catija
    Dec 4, 2016 at 19:45
  • I use the "auto-comment" SE extension on Chrome.
    – NVZ Mod
    Dec 5, 2016 at 12:49
  • @Catija honestly that is a lot of effort to deal with one-liners that are kinda correct. Even with the auto-comment extension. Since explanation and references are a basic requirement of SE answers there really should be an integrated one-click solution.
    – Helmar
    Dec 5, 2016 at 13:07
  • @NVZ Could you expand on this? Where can you find the extension?
    – BladorthinTheGrey
    Dec 5, 2016 at 15:03
  • @Helmar The point of my comment is that I'm pretty certain that this isn't configurable on the site level.
    – Catija
    Dec 5, 2016 at 15:26
  • Autocomments on Stack Apps: stackapps.com/questions/2116/…
    – Catija
    Dec 5, 2016 at 15:27
  • I think the 'references required' is nuanced, that is it is not always possible and if possible then it would make the question GenRef.
    – Mitch
    Dec 5, 2016 at 16:50
  • Your picture looks like it's obscuring some of your question's text - interesting effect.
    – Lawrence
    Dec 6, 2016 at 17:41
  • @Lawrence No! You've discovered my secret!
    – BladorthinTheGrey
    Dec 6, 2016 at 18:17

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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You mean something like this?

This answer does not meet our site’s quality standards.

We’re looking for longer answers that provide some explanation and context, preferably with citations. Good answers explain why you think they’re correct and use mostly your own words to do so.

That’s the sort of language often placed on low-quality answers.

From this MSE post by Jeff Atwood come four objective criteria to help evaluate when to delete an answer:

We know that quality equates strongly with length (TWSS). Therefore, answers that are strong candidates for deletion:

  • belong to low rep or anon users with no real commitment to the community
  • are provably duplicate, that is, were added well after (30+ mins later) other answers that contained the same exact information
  • are short in length
  • do not explain much of anything
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  • The site is unfriendly enough. How about (after "...citations."), "Good answers explain why you think they are correct, and are mostly in your own words (short quotes with appropriate references are fine), not text copied..." etc. This isn't the military or an academic publication.
    – anongoodnurse
    Dec 4, 2016 at 20:09
  • 4
    @medica It's reasonable to limit suggestions to positive ones only; say what they should do, not what they shouldn't.
    – tchrist Mod
    Dec 4, 2016 at 20:11
  • This is the post notice, yes?
    – Catija
    Dec 4, 2016 at 23:08
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    @Catija Not precisely.
    – tchrist Mod
    Dec 4, 2016 at 23:08
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Answers that are actual vandalism (LQP) should simply be deleted. A comment is not necessary; the vandal will understand.

Answers that are not answers (NAA) should be deleted with a comment for the author. That's what the delete reasons are for.

Answers that are answers, but are very short because they are wrong, or they lack authority (evidence, explanation, etc.), are answers. These are not what the delete reasons are for. Vote on the usefulness of these answers. A downvote is the appropriate signal to future visitors that the answer is not useful.

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    Thanks for explaining the difference. There are wrong or bad answers (and voting up or down is for them), and there are things written in the answer box that aren't answers and voting to delete is for them.
    – Mitch
    Dec 5, 2016 at 16:51
  • Answers that are actual vandalism (LQP) should simply be deleted. – Note: they should also be flagged as abusive. We should be careful with self-vandalism of useful posts though; this should be rolled back or flagged for moderator attention (if the author insist on self-vandalising).
    – Wrzlprmft
    Dec 5, 2016 at 18:47
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    Answers that are answers, but are very short because they are wrong, or they lack authority (evidence, explanation, etc.), are answers. – IIRC, this community agreed that one-line answers (without any reference or back-up) to single-word requests should be deleted.
    – Wrzlprmft
    Dec 5, 2016 at 18:48
  • @Wrzlprmft: Do you have a reference for that?
    – Tim Lymington
    Dec 13, 2016 at 12:54
  • @TimLymington: meta.english.stackexchange.com/q/8040/42471
    – Wrzlprmft
    Dec 13, 2016 at 12:56

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