Questions tagged [answers]

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0 votes
0 answers
37 views

Should I delete my answer? [duplicate]

I recently answered a question, and as I posted the answer I realised someone else had "beat me to the punch" and had posted (almost exactly) the same answer as I was wording mine. What's ...
0 votes
1 answer
58 views

Policy on multi part answers?

B"H One has the option to add multiple answers to the same question. The question now is, that there is a character limit for each answer. If one has a very detailed answer that would best be ...
7 votes
2 answers
146 views

How to avoid answering in comments

Mi Yodeya has a very high standard for answers, and I highly respect them (us) for that. This is both in strongly asking for sources, always necessary in Judaism, all the more so with the inherent and ...
3 votes
0 answers
84 views

New answers to old related questions

Tosfos Within the Same Mesechta Who is the voice of Tosafoth? Tosfos vs Tosfos HaRosh The above 3 questions relate to the history of the printing and editing of the Tosaphos collections. This page, ...
0 votes
1 answer
160 views

Undelete answer deleted by moderator

My answer here deleted by mod. I edited it so I think it valid now, but I can't undelete. what to do now?
6 votes
3 answers
154 views

Criterion for Voting

This community deals with questions that are subject to "eilu va'eilu divrei Elokim Chaim -- these and those are the words of the 'Living' G-d / G-d of Life." Such questions have a range of valid ...
3 votes
1 answer
57 views

Weird bug in answer text displayed

I noticed the following weird discrepancy between the answer text shown in my inbox and the actual post. The answer, as it appears in my inbox, begins "I read once that it stems...". However, when I ...
4 votes
2 answers
70 views

Flagging as Not an Answer

I'm still having trouble understanding when the "Not an Answer" flag should be used. I recently flagged a couple of answers to Is there a short Daf Yomi shiur online in English? as not being an ...
-1 votes
3 answers
85 views

Should we/can we have a flag/delete reason for “objectively wrong”?

Potentially a way to address Dealing with incorrect answers. Is it possible within the constraints of the SE system to have custom flags and delete reasons, like we have custom close reasons? If it ...
8 votes
2 answers
207 views

Dealing with incorrect answers

Suppose an answer is blatantly incorrect. (E.g. it quotes a Talmudic passage to answer the question, but the passage in question actually says the exact opposite.) I would assume that normally the ...
11 votes
3 answers
314 views

Using Christian interpretations in answers

This question as inspired by the comments to my answer here. (See also my answer here.) Is is proper, in the context of this site, to use Christian or other non-Jewish sources (for example, secular ...
5 votes
1 answer
54 views

Later comment(s) vitiates answer

Scenario: After the OP words a question in a general way and elicits a valid answer (and sometimes the answer) OP then comments (usually under the question) and includes qualifications which ...
4 votes
1 answer
43 views

Should we edit questions to include relevant information that is already in the answer?

Suppose there is a question which is rather sparse on details. Perhaps some readers won't even be able to derive the question from what is posted. But some readers understand what the question is, ...
-3 votes
1 answer
46 views

Should an answer by the questioner be held to a different standard?

I think it is pretty obvious that we have standards for answers. Some are more serious and lead to deletion; some are less serious and only lead to downvotes. My question here is whether someone ...
0 votes
1 answer
48 views

Answers that don't refer to Judaism or anything Jewish (but still address the question)

If a question can be answered without any reference to Judaism or anything Jewish, is that indicative that the question is not really on-topic? Example: Good dimensions for a Shulchan (Reading Table) ...
3 votes
1 answer
63 views

Should an answer preempt comments

Often times an answer to a question may raise further questions. Sometimes the follow-up questions might be directly related to the original question, while at times they may be tangential. This ...
6 votes
1 answer
69 views

Partially redundant answers

Mi Yodeya may have an issue that is somewhat unique among StackExchange sites. Because of the nature of questions and answers about Judaism, there can be many completely different answers to one ...
12 votes
1 answer
1k views

How should I cite an answer elsewhere?

Sometimes a Web page off-site — or a passage in a book, for that matter — answers a question perfectly. How should I refer to or quote that external source as my answer?
2 votes
2 answers
77 views

Are links strictly necessary when citing a source?

This came up in respect to my answer here. I hadn’t seen a meta post with an official policy on the topic, so I figured I’d ask. In my time here I’ve almost never linked to a source unless it’s some ...
2 votes
1 answer
74 views

Primary vs Secondary sources

Many answers on Mi Yodeya include sources, often from rabbinic literature. Many times the entire answer can be a quotation from such a source. I would think that the simplest and best way to pose a ...
0 votes
0 answers
48 views

Tags for answers [duplicate]

Has anyone ever thought about having tags for answers in addition to the tags for questions? That is to say that when someone writes an answer they would be able to assign tags to the answer separate ...
1 vote
1 answer
40 views

Addressing only a second premise of a question

If someone asks a question that is based on multiple premises, can a valid answer simply refute any of the premises? Specifically in a case where one premise appears to precede a second one, can a ...
0 votes
2 answers
67 views

Too much information in an answer

I sometimes write answers and deliberately leave them somewhat vague/open-ended. I do this because at times I feel that by being more specific it actually diminishes the value of the answer. If the ...
5 votes
1 answer
65 views

Questions asking to prove a negative

When someone asks a question asking to prove a negative (such as "is this true" or the like), should it be left up forever, or should it be closed after a certain amount of time, and would an answer ...
7 votes
2 answers
107 views

What is the benefit of combining answers?

I posted 3 different answers to a question and was prompted in a comment to combine my answers. I do not see any benefit to doing so as the answers are different, not necessarily complementary and I ...
6 votes
1 answer
83 views

Answering a question hinted to in a comment

Is it OK to answer a question, where someone had commented on the question with information that can really be used as an answer? I thought of this when I came across this link where Menachem ...
7 votes
4 answers
141 views

Why comments and not answers?

Why is it that so many people leave answers in the "comments" section, as opposed to the "answer" section? (You may leave your answer in either section 😉)
6 votes
2 answers
415 views

Is Mi Yodeya a Judaism Stack Exchange, or a Rabbinic Judaism Stack Exchange?

Before I really began to understand the profound nature of Orthodoxy, I was thinking to leave the forum because I tend to approach Scripture from a different perspective than Orthodox Jews do. I do ...
4 votes
1 answer
98 views

Poor quality answers from the "good old days"

Many have observed that during the early days of the site, standards were still somewhat in formation, and many older posts lack the quality that would constitute a valid answer, sometimes asking ...
1 vote
0 answers
44 views

Why no answer tags?

More often than not, the key information related to a topic of discussion is in the answers, not in the question. So why is there no option to tag based on the answers, or even separate tagging for ...
-3 votes
1 answer
104 views

Unpopular answers that may be the correct ones

There were two similar questions that asked for two very similar sources. Where is it taught that Hashem doesn't give a person test that he can't overcome? and Source: God only gives people what ...
15 votes
5 answers
410 views

Better to post an answer with no source, or not to post at all?

Sometimes I read a new question, and I want to provide an answer, but I don't have the time at that moment to find the appropriate source citations. Then, I will receive comments in my answer asking ...
1 vote
1 answer
30 views

Is it acceptable to delete a question that already has upvoted answers?

This question was deleted after I answered it and received upvotes. This is frowned upon on SF&F SE, and I assume that the same rules apply here. If the question was off topic, shouldn't it ...
2 votes
1 answer
39 views

Is there a suggested waiting period prior to answering my own question?

I noticed in the M.Y. rules that it is fine for someone to answer his / her own question. On a few occasions, I have posted a question that I already have an answer for. I usually don't like to be a "...
1 vote
1 answer
29 views

Answering questions based on comments from the OP

If an OP asks a question, and a clarification is made by the OP in the comments, whether it be a comment on the question or on an answer, should an answer be posted which answers the question based on ...
2 votes
1 answer
61 views

Are there any M.Y. criteria or policies in deciding when someone should post an additional answer vs. editing the first answer?

See this question. One user has posted 2 answers. It seems that they are merely different sources for answering the question. I'm wondering if it would have made sense just to merge these 2 answers ...
6 votes
0 answers
31 views

Notification when an answer to your question is edited

I've noticed that as the question author you get notifications if there is a new answer, but not if an existing answer is edited. That doesn't seem right, as often edits are worth seeing, and as the ...
4 votes
0 answers
85 views

What to do with an answer that's part-right, part-wrong?

Consider this recent answer about dealing with smoke detectors making annoying noise on Shabbat. In it, the answerer, coming from a point-of-view outside traditional Judaism but knowledgeable and ...
8 votes
2 answers
156 views

How should we handle Hebrew-only answers?

The language of Stack Exchange is English. On this site, many answers (and questions) will also involve Hebrew, and we don't want to discourage that. This answer contains a citation in English and ...
5 votes
4 answers
304 views

What's the point of posting an answer based on something that's already online?

If I find an English-language article online that directly addresses a question on Mi Yodeya, why should I bother going to all the trouble suggested in our citation guideline - citing, summarizing, ...
6 votes
2 answers
111 views

Is it OK to post extensive comments as answers?

Here and there, I see answers prefaced by "this is really just a comment that got too long" or the like (and after seeing this a few times I felt comfortable doing it myself, twice in fact). Is that ...
5 votes
1 answer
118 views

Someone answered a duplicate question

I was surprised when I saw a question rise to the top of Mi Yodeya's stack, that said "answered," while the question title said duplicate. Is this a bug? Here's a link to the question; here's a link ...
4 votes
1 answer
83 views

Is a link-only answer to within MY acceptable?

@Scimonster I thought we decided that a mi.y link was OK. This is not to say, of course, that the other link shouldn't be expanded on :) – Shokhet 6 hours ago @Shokhet, 1) 2 upvotes doesn't ...
3 votes
0 answers
33 views

Two questions, one answer [duplicate]

What should I do, when I've written an answer that would answer two (non-duplicate) questions, equally well? One example of this would be my answer here, which answers the question that it's posted to ...
1 vote
1 answer
104 views

Answering a question that you voted to close

When is appropriate for a user that voted to close a question to go ahead and answer the question as well? Granted that if their closed opinion wasn't accepted by the community, they shouldn't ...
-4 votes
1 answer
129 views

Another "bully overflow"

Yeah I know downvote downvote downvotes. But rep doesn't count here. Far from the Jewish spirit of welcoming in new people, guests, etc. you are bullying people with your downvote tactics. Where is ...
5 votes
1 answer
198 views

Are "see this source" answers link-only?

Is an answer that says basically "see what book x says about this" considered a link only answer? Not that i've been seeing lots of these, i was just curious.
6 votes
1 answer
133 views

What to do when you only have a partial answer

Many times I find myself with relevant, sourced information when I look at a question, but won't have a complete answer. For example, in this recent question, the question asked for when large-scale ...
3 votes
3 answers
82 views

Deleting duplicate answers when the lower quality duplicate was added to an existing question with a pre-existing higher quality duplicative answer

So I had an answer to this question (actually I answered it on this question before Menachem(?) found the duplicate at which point I also voted to close as duplicate) deleted because it is a duplicate ...
3 votes
2 answers
38 views

Duplicate answers where the higher quality answer was added after the lower quality answer

Following on this question, what should the policy be if an existing question with an existing answer gets a new answer that is higher quality (e.g. provides a source, maybe adds additional ...