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This question asks: Which scripture is the source of (a particular verse)?

The answer given uses only one sentence to address it viz- "But as far as I know it's not found in any scriptures." (The other portions are not dedicated at all to answering the question)

Naturally, i flagged it as "not an answer". But it was rejected.

Question: How can this one liner (one liner in the sense that it is only this one sentence that is attempting to answer the question) be considered as an answer? Should it not be converted to a comment?

He can simply say in comment the same thing like i said here. To add the translation part is completely unwanted and is also taken from the link i shared earlier in this comment. The same link can also be found in this answer of mine which is again already linked to in the very first comment under OP's question.


NOTE:

1.The other parts that are there in the answer are not answering the question.
2. Moreover, the other portions are not really adding anything after my this comment (which was posted much earlier than the answer), from where one can get the translation. Anyways, OP is not asking for the translation of the verse here but it's scriptural source.


UPDATE:

If you see this comment of the answer provider, you'll see he is trying to justify his answer by saying that when answers are a simple Yes or a No, one can answer like that. He links me to this meta post.

Now, even this justification is flawed. because, here the answer is not a simple No. No one can claim that the answer is no.

The same point is also echoed in question asker's this comment:

Second, it is quite a sweeping statement to say that a verse is not found in any scripture at all! No one could have gone through ALL the extant scriptures to make that claim ever. The best someone can say is that he or she hasn't come across the verse anywhere

But even that best statement can not be accepted as an answer.

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    Related: Is it ethical to earn reputation by copying contents from own/others' duplicates?
    – iammilind
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 3:20
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    @iammilind How is it related?
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 5:48
  • @Sarvabhouma, to me the Qn seems possible duplicate of the linked Qn. Now putting a separate answer as "Not found", doesn't do any help. The translations are irrelevant. The answer could be legal, but not right way. Imagine, if 10 people want to answer that Qn with simply saying "Not found"! That will look odd. I have added a wiki-answer. That's better to give up the reputation in such border cases, if one indeed wants to answer.
    – iammilind
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 8:48
  • @iammilind If "not found" is an answer, that is the answer. Isn't it? Putting in the comments won't help the site. Moreover, comments are not for giving answers. They are designed for other use. Why to see everything from rep point of view? There is no hard rule to make an answer a CW and not unethical. It is user's choice. Imposing our own choices as site rules is not right. One answer saying not found is enough why do we need 10 people?
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 9:04
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    If "not found" is an answer, that is the answer." - How can one say with any degree of conviction that that is the answer? I don't think even real Pundits can say that. Also are you saying simply a statement " This is not found in any scriptures AFAIK" should be allowed as answers?
    – Rickross
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 9:28

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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From this Meta SE answer:

When should I use this (not an answer) flag?

Use this flag when an answer is being used to:

  • Ask a new question
  • Clarify the existing question
  • Communicate with another user
  • Say "thanks" or confirm that another posted answer worked for them
  • "Bump" the question, as in "I have the same problem, have you found a solution?"
    • Is not even a partial answer to the question asked

In this case the question is - "Which scripture is the source of the verse?" So, the answer should be - "the name of the scripture." The question is such that there's no scope of a partial answer here.

But, the answer given is - "But as far as I know it's not found in any scriptures.".

The translation portions are obviously added just to fill the space up, as one can not really put that one sentence as the answer.

Now, if we are "allowed" to answer like that, then we can post "As far as i know, it's not found in Mahabharata" - as an answer to this question. And it should be allowed as well.

Or for this question the answer - " AFAIK Vedas do not talk about multiple universes" should also be allowed.

But, we can not really do that.

So, my flag was justified and the answer can not stay.

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Answer of your question might hurt some but still here it is the answer.. This site is partial to users. It is first and last reason of it.

Why I think users are partial?

In this meta post I asked the same thing. And moderator replied that answer got downvote because max part of the answer was not answering the question. Only last lines of answer was really addressing the query.

But now when a different moderator himself did same(addressing actual query at last line only) then still he got upvotes(in linked post in Q.). Besides this answer of moderator rejects all points of this answer of different moderator. So moderators himself contradicting each other's view.

And users does downvote/upvote by seeing the username(who posted asnwer) more than the answer itself.

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    I agree that the answer is not at all answering the Q. Even that one line dedicated to answering is nothing more than just a comment. NO, no users i think vote upon seeing whether a post belongs to a Mod or not. Rules are the same for everyone.
    – Rickross
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 6:46
  • @rickross "Rules are the same for everyone" Yes it should be same but who will teach this to users? Even moderators are not on same thoughts. See in my answer how one is contradicting other.
    – Vishvam
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 6:47
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    Don't expect users to upvote or downvote an answer. I don't know which post you are talking about by saying that there are no downvotes but downvotes are not the same as deletion. According to SE, the answer is an answer if it attempts to answer the question. It is not subjected to deletion but if the answer is wrong or unclear, it should be downvoted.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 6:48
  • @sarvabhouma The thing is, one moderator said(in linked asnwer) that if most of the part of answer is off-topic then it should be downvote. But I can show you many answer which is not even asnwering the question but still no downvote. And those Q. who asnwering still got downvotes. THis is the users of this site. That's why I said they see username before casting vote.
    – Vishvam
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 6:51
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    That is what I said in the above comment. If you feel the answer is not properly addressing the question, downvote the answer. It is your choice whether or not to give the reason.There are downvotes to the answer we are discussing about even though it gives the source and addressed what is asked in the question. Other users may or may not follow your view. What we can do is vote and move on. Discussion about downvotes and upvotes is a silly thing. We always get downvotes and upvotes.Discussion about them is not a healthy discussion. Moving on is the right thing to do.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 6:57
  • @sarvabhouma "Moving on is the right thing to do" If we moved on then how users will learn about which Q. shud be upvote and which shud be donwvote? If wrong upvote/downvote trend keeps going on then the day is not far when there will no meaning left for upvote/downvote of any asnwer. Right now people thinks more upvotes means more accurate asnwer. In future people won't be able to think like this coz users don't have sense of voting and we don't even want to teach them.
    – Vishvam
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 7:01
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    Posts about downvotes is considered a rant. Why do you feel that the answer we are discussing doesn't address the question properly and rejects the points of other moderator and should be deleted? That is what asked in this meta question.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 7:01
  • @sarvabhouma I showed downvote post link just as example to proof my point.
    – Vishvam
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 7:09
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The not an answer flag reason reads

This was posted as an answer, but it does not attempt to answer the question. It should possibly be an edit, a comment, another question, or deleted altogether.

So, this flag should be used when the answer does not attempt to answer the question at all.

But the answer says where is the verse taken from and also the author of the verse and he also says it is not a part of any scripture. So, the answer attempts to answer by saying it is part of nothing. So, the Not An answer flag is not valid here. If the answer is wrong, it should be downvoted not flagged.

Just remember: if the text of the post contains an honest attempt at answering the question, then it is an answer - so don't flag it otherwise, and if you do, don't complain if your flag gets declined.

Read Your answer is in another castle: when is an answer not an answer? from main meta and also What to do with those type of questions whose answers are simple yes or no? from our meta.

Moreover, the other portions are not really adding anything after my this comment (which was posted much earlier than the answer)

Any useful information which attempts or tries to attempt the answer should go to answer section and not comments. Comments are for asking clarification or for suggesting improvements. So, what you have put in the comment should be an answer actually.

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    I don't agree with anything you say here except possibly the fact that i may have chosen a wrong flag reason. The reason why i can't answer because i would be then copying content from i own answer (without adding absolutely anything new) which i consider as unethical. The situation is already discussed here: hinduism.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1023/… That's the only reason why i posted answer like comments something which i rarely do.
    – Rickross
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 5:52
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    Who says we can't quote other's answers or own answers? It is completely allowed. Whoever said that are unaware of SE. Under creative common license which SE follows, you should give proper attribution to it. Don't you agree with help center or about comments? If it's choice no to answer, it's your choice only and you can't stop others. Moreover, he didn't copy your answer. He wrote it in own words. So, you can't say he copied.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 5:57
  • "So, the answer attempts to answer by saying it is part of nothing" Yes and that attempt is comprised of just a sentence and that sentence is not really an answer but a comment. That's my point. It should be converted to a comment.
    – Rickross
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 6:38
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    The answers gives where the source of the verse is. That definition of the comment is wrong. A comment is something which as ks clarification or suggests improvement. If it is not attempting to answer and again asking clarifications in the answer, that should be converted into a comment. That is also a reason for low quality answers.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 6:42
  • More importantly i can not answer because i don't know the answer. I don't know which scripture contains it. I could answer the other Q there because it is also asking "Who's the composer?". So, i had answered it partially.
    – Rickross
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 5:46
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    @Rickross Then you should have remained silent but you posted an answer like comment. Didn't you?. Actually, your comments under the question can now be deleted because there is an answer saying the same. Answers weigh more importance than comments in SE. So, it is the other way of what you suggested in the question. Comments can be deleted because the answer is there.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 5:52
  • Then you should have remained silent but you posted an answer like comment. -- I can very well post comments or anything. Also this point is not relevant at all to the current Meta.
    – Rickross
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 5:55
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    "I can very well post comments or anything." By this I have concluded that you have not read my answer but just disagreed (may be downvoted too). The help center link says comments are for clarification and suggesting improvements only not for anything else. So, I will stop this discussion. It is no use who don't read complete answers and argue.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 5:57
  • Do u see that you are discussing something that's irrelevant to this post?
    – Rickross
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 6:05
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    It's relevant. If you don't know the answer, you should not write answer like comment but you had sources yet you commented @Rickross . In the question you asked that Keshav should also post comments like you did but that is against the help center. Comments should not answer the question not even partially. What you said in the comment should be answer not a comment hence asking the posted answer for comment conversion is also not allowed. I don't understand why all are asking for comment conversion without knowing what comments are for.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 6:15
  • Where did i say that i am writing an answer like comment? I just posted a comment to show OP that this topic is already discussed. So, that he can know what is already known about it. " In the question you asked that Keshav should also post comments like you did but that is against the help center" Yeah i can very well say that, people who have problems with the statement will obviously downvote. And, this post is about how a single line saying " I don't think it's part of any scriptures" can even be allowed as an answer.
    – Rickross
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 6:19
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    1.It had the stotra the part of. 2. A single line which attempts to answer is not to be deleted. It will be allowed (That is what said in my answer and also linked main meta post). When you have problem with upvoted meta posts from the past, why didn't you object then? Unanimously upvoted meta posts are rules and policies. Why sudden change? and stop making updates from my answer. It is no more looking like a question. Questions are not for refuting the points made in the provided answer. They are for asking questions.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 6:27
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    Comments can be used for many purposes. Many meta discussions around it. See this post, a proposal, where the user should be allowed to accept comments as an answer! I think @Rickross's comment belongs to that category. Having said this, Keshav as a Mod, has a long history of deleting answers which were indeed written with genuine intent. This was the most discussed. I have my own saga. His this answer doesn't stand a chance to remain, when he enthusiastically deleted other such good answers.
    – iammilind
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 8:07
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    @iammilind I follow help center not failed proposals. Does help center say we can answer? See the tag the linked meta question has status-declined and what the accepted answer says. I can show you many posts which say you are not allowed to answer in comments. If a comment is helpful, it is allowed to quote it and expand as answer. Don't you know that? Why do you always unethical if we expand comments into answers or quote other answers? It is perfectly fine under CC license. Quoting own works or other works is not unethical as wrote in other meta post.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 8:17
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    @Rickross Which answer are you talking about? I only linked two posts. The one which is to be followed is the question by Shog9 and not others. What to do with the answer? Let it remain and I discussed in the answer if you have missed it. it is not to be deleted because it attempts to answer. Bad answers are not subjected to deletion. They should be downvoted if they are wrong. So, there is no need of deleting the answer.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 9:26

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