7

I am thinking in particular about these answers:

Looking on the review queue, I was unsure as if to vote to delete, since they don't add anything to the site, or keeping them there since they are in fact valid answers to the questions, albeit low quality. So I skipped. Then I saw it was reviewed by others as Looks OK.

The question is: what should be done with sarcastic, snarky answers?

5
  • I flagged the French answer as offensive; the sexy looking guy is actually Cuban/American, not French at all.
    – Gayot Fow
    Mar 24, 2015 at 21:31
  • I deleted my own answer to the pepper spray question, incidentally, to let the question be deleted automatically.
    – Relaxed
    Mar 25, 2015 at 13:18
  • @Relaxed, I don't know if you or anybody else noticed, but I'm happy to wager the sum of 1 English pound that he's using two accounts.
    – Gayot Fow
    Mar 25, 2015 at 14:46
  • Yo, can't go to chat currently, I am banned for a month, I got some history with that 😉 see you in a month, meanwhile comment any of my answered if u need anything 😊
    – Nean Der Thal
    Mar 25, 2015 at 18:30
  • @GayotFow flag his account for a mod, they can check that quite easily.
    – Mark Mayo
    Mar 25, 2015 at 22:29

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
7

Sarcasm should be in comments, isn't that why comments were made in the first place?

Answers like these should be deleted by either mods or 20k+ users:

enter image description here

That's how I do it, but in many cases, it does not reach the three required deletion votes to be deleted, and mods tend to go easy on non-spam posts (especially when they are somehow valid answers). In addition to that, I flag them as low quality which can be done by any user, if some (5?) have done that it will be deleted automatically AFAIK. Last but not least, downvote it.

By doing the three actions mentioned (or at least on of them) you have done your part towards the community, even if the post was not deleted, the downvotes and/or flags would leave the post dimmed and people will notice that whatever content in it is not welcomed.

1
  • 4
    If it's not an answer, then yes, it should be in a comment, BUT comments need to be constructive, that's why there's a flag for "not constructive" on them. Sarcastic or "witty" responses in comments shouldn't be left on the site.
    – Mark Mayo
    Mar 25, 2015 at 3:04
7

There's a flag on comments that specifies "not constructive". Sarcasm doesn't work well on the internet, and for new users it could be misconstrued and off-putting. If it doesn't actually contribute, flag it.

6

Snarky sarcastic answers are a great indicator of a problem question. So feel free to deal with the not-an-answer (by reviewing, visiting the post and voting to delete, editing the answer to retain anything useful it might have contained) but as well take a moment to go and look at the question, which almost certainly needs (at minimum) an edit.

Snarky sarcastic comments you can just flag.

1
  • Such might be triggered by a stupid question. But they might also indicate an attitude problem in the commenter. Either way, they violate "be nice."
    – WGroleau
    Jan 27, 2020 at 17:10

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .