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https://superuser.com/a/1275976/456385

This answer is only backed up by the answerer personal experience, with no explanation provided.

if it was my customer i would dismantle the screen on the spot and use a spare screen (which i have plenty of in stock) to prove my point. as a reference for why i believe this screen needs replacement, it is because i currently have one in the shop in an identical condition and resolve in the way i am describing.

I'm not sure what to do at this point, because I know that I've met problems that are fixed by replacing parts, but I can't explain what's wrong.

Is this kind of answer acceptable here?

Additional question:

is a VLQ flag for that answer a right thing to do?

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  • “Is this kind of answer acceptable here?” - It can be. However, the linked answer you used as an example, is not an acceptable answer because it was a comment submitted as an answer (the author of the answer confirmed this fact). The quoted text was submitted as a comment, commentary shouldn’t be submitted, as an answer.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Dec 12, 2017 at 16:11
  • Out of curiosity would you consider this to be VLQ? It is based entirely on my personal experience without any citations or other sources...
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Dec 12, 2017 at 16:33
  • @Mokubai nah, you definitely explained why you suspect the reason of the problem. It's not a VLQ and of course it deserves an upvote for explaining the symptoms and possible source of problems.
    – Vylix
    Commented Dec 12, 2017 at 16:39
  • So it the main problem you have is a lack of the "why" it fixes the problem? In some cases I'd admit it helps and is definitely a "nice to have", but is it really mandatory?
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Dec 12, 2017 at 16:49
  • @Mokubai I'm not sure about the culture in SuperUser, but as I get from how SE works, answer should be backed up and explained. An answer might be kept, but has no explanation, but it is considered as low quality and not what SE after. Of course, I don't know if SU consider "why" to be mandatory or not, because I'm not fully accustomed to SU culture (I spent most my time on WB and IPS)
    – Vylix
    Commented Dec 12, 2017 at 16:53
  • I'd definitely prefer a complete and reasoned answer, but lacking that a simple solution that just fixes it is okay as it can be a solution. It is a bit borderline though.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Dec 12, 2017 at 17:08
  • 1
    1. Yes, an answer can be backed up by nothing more than personal experience, provided it is actually an answer. Adding the "why" makes it a better answer, and adding an authoritative citation makes it even better. 2. Distinguish between low quality and VLQ, which has a specific definition for site purposes. A low quality answer is still technically an answer. If it's a poor answer, it can be downvoted. VLQ is reserved for total garbage that doesn't contain a shred of useful content; nothing that can be improved on to make it useful, even as a comment.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Dec 12, 2017 at 19:42
  • @fixer1234 would you have time to convert it to an answer? It will look very good with the upvote I'll give :)
    – Vylix
    Commented Dec 14, 2017 at 1:48

1 Answer 1

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It depends.

If the answer is nothing but personal experience, but results in it completely solving the original problem then it is definitely an answer.

I've seen this before. When I last used FlugelBinder3000 software I had to ratchet the wurzle and everything just worked.

Is definitely an answer. It solves the problem. What more could you want?

It could be nice to say why, but you get a solution at least.

Conjecture, such as

this might work... I tried it once but wasn't sure what happened but the problem eventually went away...

Isn't as helpful. At best this sort of thing is a suggestion of a possible fix and should be a comment.

When applying flags you should read the help text that goes along with it.

This answer has severe formatting or content problems. This answer is unlikely to be salvageable through editing, and might need to be removed.

Something that is in some way attempting to answer the problem but is completely unintelligible would fall under the purview of VLQ. As with a lot of things though, what is unintelligible to you might be understandable by another. Again, judgement call time.

Your example is definitely editable and salvageable, it could be made to sound more authoritative quite easily through editing. To me it is definitely stating what they believe the problem is.

Leave a comment, downvote if you must, but personally I don't think it is unsalvageable.

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