Check if the post can be improved. If you can raise its quality above the threshold of acceptability, Edit it. Keep in mind that editing within the queue will be a unilateral Looks OK vote, so be careful with edits that just make minor improvements (“rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic”).
If you think that an answer does not address the question at all or is incomprehensible, choose Recommend deletion or Delete (see common reasons below). If you haven’t left an individual comment or upvoted an existing one, consider choosing an appropriate canned comment from the list. Note that these are really just canned comments, which have no further effect.
If you think that a question should be closed, choose Recommend close or CloseClose. (See Guidelines for reviewing Close votes.)
If you are unsure about the post's quality, Skip it.
If the above doesn’t apply, choose Looks OK. This is the correct choice for answers that aren't eligible for deletion, or for questions that aren't closeable.
[QA] Spam or rude/abusive posts: clickfollow the "link"link to the post, and cast its corresponding flag it as spam or rude or abusive. Do not "close", "recommend close", "recommend deletion", or "delete"take any actions in the review queue. This will make sure that the appropriate penalties are levied, and as authors are able to undelete answers deletedrecommended for deletion in this queue, they can restore the spam or offensive post without a trace. Once back in the review queue, skip the review item.
[Q] Close-worthy questions: Recommend close brings up the regular close dialog. See Guidelines for reviewing Close votes for when this applies.
[A] Comments posted as answers: This is common from users who do not have the 50 reputation required to comment, but feel they have something useful to say. Nonetheless, recommend deletion. In the exceptional case where the answer contains useful information but still makes no attempt to answer, consider additionally flagging it for moderator attention and asking that it be converted to a comment, but still review as Recommend deletion.
[A] “Thank You” answers, “I’m having this problem, too” answers and different questions posted as answers: These are considered noise; answers must be actual answers. Recommend deletion and choose the corresponding canned comment. Consider leaving an individual comment to help with the choice of asking a new question or to recommend improvements on a possible new question.
[A] Link-only answers: These tend to break under maintenance of the linked reference. Users should be encouraged to include the essential parts of the solution in the answer's body.
Note that only if the answer is fully worthless without the link is it actually is a link-only answer. Also, watch out for spam.
- If the information behind the link is worth having, not already included in other answers, and can be edited in, click Edit and do so in quote markup (beware of copyright infringements, though).
- If the link is helpful but it’s inherently impossible to edit the information in (e.g., if the link is to a video or copyrighted image), recommend deletion. (If the answer would make a useful comment, consider additionally flagging for moderator attention.)
- If the information behind the link is redundant to existing answers, recommend deletion.
[A] Answers that fail to address the question: If you evaluate the answer such, first check carefully whether there is a lack of clarity in the question that you and the answer’s author may have interpreted differently. Otherwise, recommend deletion. Leave an explanatory comment in both cases.
[QA] Gibberish, or posts in the wrong language: If the post is clearly not intended to be understandable, or is not written in English or the language of the site, recommend deletion or closure as Needs details or clarity.
[QA] Incomprehensible posts: Improve what you can and leave a comment for the author. If you can't improve anything, recommend closing questions as Needs details or clarity. Recommend deleting an answer, if what is understandable does not make for an answer.
[QA] Bad formatting, spelling, structure and language: Improve it using the "Edit" button or leave a comment to the author. If there is no other problem and the post is understandable, choose Looks OK.
[A] Wrong and unhelpful answers: If you can fix it without making an intrusive edit, do so. Otherwise, leave a comment explaining what’s wrong and possibly downvote. If there is no other problemnot editing, choosereview the answer as Looks OK: answers that don't exhibit any problems other than simply being wrong or unhelpful should be downvoted, not deleted.
[QA][A] PostsAnswers that violate site-specific policies: Some sites may have additional guidelines for deleting answers. For example, on Puzzling, answers that don't provide an explanation may be deleted, and on some technical sites, answers that are harmful when tried may be deleted. If the answer should be deleted as per site policy, recommend deleting it. The same also applies for questions: if it falls under a reason for closing, recommend closing it.