Anecdotal

1. a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature. 2. a short, obscure historical or biographical account.

^Source

An anecdotal answer focuses more on telling a story than it does with answering a question. While anecdotes aren't bad things to have, they can severely detract from an answer if they're used incorrectly.

Anecdotes can be useful when an argument about social norms comes into play. For example, a child being told that their bedtime is a normal time, might call to attention that their friend's bedtime is different. The suggestion that their bedtime being at a normal time is dispelled by the knowledge of one other bedtime being different.

On the other hand, the way anecdotes are normally used, is to give an anecdote and project it as evidence. For example, I use anecdotes and now my cat chirps like a bird. There might be another reason why it chirps like a bird, but since I'm talking about anecdotes, it's come up in my brain as relevant. There's nothing wrong with telling a story in the chatroom or meta (I'd say it's encouraged), but in an answer it takes the focus away from the original question, and risks the viewer missing the point of the answer, or even coming to a wrong conclusion.

_{I think this answer could be improved. See: [Why is my answer being Down-Voted or Ignored?](http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/a/776/481\)}

Anecdotal

1. a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature. 2. a short, obscure historical or biographical account.

^Source

An anecdotal answer focuses more on telling a story than it does with answering a question. While anecdotes aren't bad things to have, they can severely detract from an answer if they're used incorrectly.

Anecdotes can be useful when an argument about social norms comes into play. For example, a child being told that their bedtime is a normal time, might call to attention that their friend's bedtime is different. The suggestion that their bedtime being at a normal time is dispelled by the knowledge of one other bedtime being different.

On the other hand, the way anecdotes are normally used, is to give an anecdote and project it as evidence. For example, I use anecdotes and now my cat chirps like a bird. There might be another reason why it chirps like a bird, but since I'm talking about anecdotes, it's come up in my brain as relevant. There's nothing wrong with telling a story in the chatroom or meta (I'd say it's encouraged), but in an answer it takes the focus away from the original question, and risks the viewer missing the point of the answer, or even coming to a wrong conclusion.

_{I think this answer is an anecdote. Please see Meta about [Anecdotal Answers](http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/a/776/481\)}

Anecdotal

1. a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature. 2. a short, obscure historical or biographical account.

^Source

An anecdotal answer focuses more on telling a story than it does with answering a question. While anecdotes aren't bad things to have, they can severely detract from an answer if they're used incorrectly.

Anecdotes can be useful when an argument about social norms comes into play. For example, a child being told that their bedtime is a normal time, might call to attention that their friend's bedtime is different. The suggestion that their bedtime being at a normal time is dispelled by the knowledge of one other bedtime being different.

On the other hand, the way anecdotes are normally used, is to give an anecdote and project it as evidence. For example, I use anecdotes and now my cat chirps like a bird. There might be another reason why it chirps like a bird, but since I'm talking about anecdotes, it's come up in my brain as relevant. There's nothing wrong with telling a story in the chatroom or meta (I'd say it's encouraged), but in an answer it takes the focus away from the original question, and risks the viewer missing the point of the answer, or even coming to a wrong conclusion.

_{I think this answer could be improved. See: [Why is my answer being Down-Voted or Ignored?](http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/a/776/481\)}

Anecdotal

1. a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature. 2. a short, obscure historical or biographical account.

^Source

An anecdotal answer focuses more on telling a story than it does with answering a question. While anecdotes aren't bad things to have, they can severely detract from an answer if they're used incorrectly.

Anecdotes can be useful when an argument about social norms comes into play. For example, a child being told that their bedtime is a normal time, might call to attention that their friend's bedtime is different. The suggestion that their bedtime being at a normal time is dispelled by the knowledge of one other bedtime being different.

On the other hand, the way anecdotes are normally used, is to give an anecdote and project it as evidence. For example, I use anecdotes and now my cat chirps like a bird. There might be another reason why it chirps like a bird, but since I'm talking about anecdotes, it's come up in my brain as relevant. There's nothing wrong with telling a story in the chatroom or meta (I'd say it's encouraged), but in an answer it takes the focus away from the original question, and risks the viewer missing the point of the answer, or even coming to a wrong conclusion.

_{I think this answer could be improved. See: [Why is my answer being Down-Voted or Ignored?](http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/a/776/481\)}

Anecdotal

1. a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature. 2. a short, obscure historical or biographical account.

^Source

An anecdotal answer focuses more on telling a story than it does with answering a question. While anecdotes aren't bad things to have, they can severely detract from an answer if they're used incorrectly.

Anecdotes can be useful when an argument about social norms comes into play. For example, a child being told that their bedtime is a normal time, might call to attention that their friend's bedtime is different. The suggestion that their bedtime being at a normal time is dispelled by the knowledge of one other bedtime being different.

On the other hand, the way anecdotes are normally used, is to give an anecdote and project it as evidence. For example, I use anecdotes and now my cat chirps like a bird. There might be another reason why it chirps like a bird, but since I'm talking about anecdotes, it's come up in my brain as relevant. There's nothing wrong with telling a story in the chatroom or meta (I'd say it's encouraged), but in an answer it takes the focus away from the original question, and risks the viewer missing the point of the answer, or even coming to a wrong conclusion.

Anecdotal

1. a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature. 2. a short, obscure historical or biographical account.

^Source

An anecdotal answer focuses more on telling a story than it does with answering a question. While anecdotes aren't bad things to have, they can severely detract from an answer if they're used incorrectly.

Anecdotes can be useful when an argument about social norms comes into play. For example, a child being told that their bedtime is a normal time, might call to attention that their friend's bedtime is different. The suggestion that their bedtime being at a normal time is dispelled by the knowledge of one other bedtime being different.

On the other hand, the way anecdotes are normally used, is to give an anecdote and project it as evidence. For example, I use anecdotes and now my cat chirps like a bird. There might be another reason why it chirps like a bird, but since I'm talking about anecdotes, it's come up in my brain as relevant. There's nothing wrong with telling a story in the chatroom or meta (I'd say it's encouraged), but in an answer it takes the focus away from the original question, and risks the viewer missing the point of the answer, or even coming to a wrong conclusion.

_{I think this answer could be improved. See: [Why is my answer being Down-Voted or Ignored?](http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/a/776/481\)}