Is it acceptable to give a humorous answer on YA that does not seriously address the question?

Question

I just had an interesting occurrence.  My answer was chosen by the asker as a "Best Answer."  About 33% of my answers get "Best" so that is not so uncommon.  But a few hours later, my answer was reported and deleted.  Apparently, the appeal link doesn't work so, oh well.  Based on how this happened, it seems obvious that someone got jealous and decided to report me.  I have only had a few reports.  One was because I answered a question quite seriously with the quote "Cogito ergo sum" which is Latin for "I think, therefore I am."  Violation?  Use of foreign language in an answer!  Didn't win the appeal.  There was one more that I didn't bother to appeal, because I was in a grumpy mood that night and criticized the question.  But here is the question and answer that I gave (Incidentally, the question itself was also deleted, so the jealous person probably slapped the asker for choosing me over the reporter as well.)

Q:  (Simplified because I can't get the original)  Why does Gandalf lie to Frodo when he pulls the ring out of the fire and hands it to him?  He says "It's quite cool."  How can that be?

A:  It was a fashion statement.  He was saying "Check out this ring!  It's quite cool!"

Obviously, that was just a throwaway joke.  The asker chose it as best over several other perfectly correct answers (relating to the powers of the ring to withstand any normal fire).  Frankly, I didn't deserve a "best" on that one, but the asker found it amusing (His response was "LOLOLOLOLOL!") so I got one.  I looked at the violation email and checked out the community guidelines.  Technically, this does not really address the question.  So perhaps I would lose an appeal if that option were available.  In this case, the motivation behind the report seems fairly clear, but it does raise the question:  Does this kind of quip really violate the community standards?   I mean, most of my answers are respectful, pointed and intended to help the asker.  But occasionally I just see an opportunity to throw out a one-liner.  Do we have a sense of humor here or must I curtail my youthful levity? (I'm 56, btw, so "youthful" is a slight exaggeration!)

Opinions and/or specifics that might clear the issue up?

wizjp · Accepted Answer

I have much the same problem.

2 different suggestions.

(1) There is no rhyme or reason to what will get violated, and of course the appeal system is so FUBAR that Jesus can't grant an appeal at this point. I've had answers that I researched, KNEW were both inside guidelines and correct, and still had them violated, and of course, currently that means beyond rectification by appeal.

(2) I often use the throwaway joke (c'mon. Some of these things practically write themselves.....) and then use the "But seriously..... I " and then give a solid answer. And hope for the best.

Edit: In case it's not clear here, just a joke is of course a violation and you should NEVER just use a throwaway joke as an answer. But it is possible to further the community knowledge base and have a little fun as well.

🌹🌹🌹🌹 · Answer

In answer to your question (w/o reading the rest), a humous answer is fine.. IF it also answers the question.  If it doesn't answer the question, then it's of no help to the asker, and it is a violation. And just because an answer is chosen by the asker as best answer, doesn't mean it can't be (or shouldn't be) reported if it's a violation.

Your example... cute answer, but it didn't answer the question.  If other users reported it (probably more than 2), they were doing so because you didn't answer the question. Therefore, they were within their rights to report that answer. You would likely lose an appeal.

We did all agree to abide by the rules, but I DO understand that some questions just lend to giving funny or even snarky answers.  It's hard to resist, but we should.

RAY G · Answer

It can be a difficult call.

Stupid or wrong - but good-faith - answers aren't violations. But what to do if an answer is clearly not good-faith, such as an obvious joke?

Some ignore; others report it as a non-answer / trolling. I go with the latter. With any answer, the touchstone is: "Is this furthering Y!A's intended purpose - to create a database of knowledge?". Giving a deliberately false answer isn't.

Gone · Answer

its a violation to not answer the question.
its a violation to answer in a language other than english on the english language site

yup even if you are special enough to have 33% BA - no one got jealous of you - they saw a blatant violation and reported it.

the question is automatically deleted when the BA is reported and deleted.

In the time it took you to pontificate over this blatant violation and your misconceptipn that being expected to follow rules you agreedto follow equals jealousy, you could have read the guidelines and help pages so you'd know how things work here.

Richard K · Answer

It can be,  not answering the question as asked would be a violation not following the question and answer format. Check the link.
http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?locale=en_US&page=content&id=SLN4203

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Is it acceptable to give a humorous answer on YA that does not seriously address the question?

5 Answers