in reply to RE: Categorized Q&A Cleanup Finally....
in thread Categorized Q&A Cleanup Finally....

There's one other category of answer that might not be used - redundant. If the answers aren't visible until they've been moderated, then there are likely going to be multiple answers. The moderators should be able to rejcet an answer without penalizing the author - something like a "it's otherwise fine, but we already have an answer to use" kind of thing. Otherwise, I agree with a small penalty for unused posts.

- Ozymandias

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RE: RE: RE: Categorized Q&A Cleanup Finally....
by royalanjr (Chaplain) on Jun 07, 2000 at 17:44 UTC

    You are absolutely right! Certainly noone should be penalized for submitting a redundant correct answer.

    Roy Alan

    "I quit; I concede. Tanj on your silly game!" -- Louis Wu
(zdog) RE: (3) Categorized Q&A Cleanup Finally....
by zdog (Priest) on Jun 07, 2000 at 19:13 UTC
    You make a good point! No one should be penalized if they submit something that is of good quality, but there is already something there, also I feel, however, that if multiple answers are submitted to a question and all of them are good, then all of them should be posted. I think it is to the readers advantage to have multiple answers since one style can be easier for them to read than another (let them make the choice).

    -- zdog (Zenon Zabinski)
       Go Bells!!

      True enough. I have seen (usually in the SOPW section) exact duplicates - answers where two differnt monks, usually within minuted of each other, submitted the same solution to a problem, often with nearly identical explanations and code samples. It doesn't happen often, because generally it only happens when the second monk submits his answer after the first monk has submitted, but before the second monk has refreshed - meaning that they both believe they are the first to answer. It's much more likely to happen when the delay is hours or days. And those are the ones that shouldn't be repeated; where the answers are so similar that there's no useful information to be gained. Multiple methods and so on - even multiple, distinct explanations of the same method - should be posted.

      - Ozymandias