Is there a way to give anonymous feedback without flagging?

Question

Probably many of you have seen low-quality answers, for which less versed users may not immediately see that the answer is low-quality. A specific situation could be answers to TikZ questions in which tikzpictures get nested. The result of the answer may look fine, but if the OP uses it and modifies the code they are almost guaranteed to run into major problems. There are many more examples of similarly bad practice.

According to what I know the options of dealing with such posts are:

1. Ignore. But this may be against the spirit of helping others.
2. Leave a comment. According to my experience with certain users this leads to revenge downvotes and other interesting reactions.
3. Downvote. Without a comment this may not lead anywhere, and once one leaves a comment there is a high chance of being subject to retaliation, see item 2.
4. Flag. This is a drastic measure and may only be used sparsely if I understand it correctly. It may not at all be appropriate for the situation described above. Or is it?

So it seems to me that there is no real way of passing the information that this answer does something problematic without opening some kind of can of worms.

My question is whether the above list of possible ways of dealing with problematic answers is exhaustive, and what the recommend way of dealing with such posts is.

Answer 1

My main advice would be: Do what you think is right (comment, edit, answer, etc.), and just ignore the downvotes (they cost almost no rep) and other "interesting reactions" you observed. Unless they get abusive.

If the other user becomes abusive, report that behavior to the moderators. I'm not sure, but I think massive targeted downvoting of a single user's contributions is also considered abuse of the reputation system.

Answer 2

I would add another option:

5. Add another answer with the correct solution, explaining, with a practical example, why the previous answer could be dangerous.

As for the previous answer, I'd just opt for 1 (ignoring is always the best policy). If the OP (asker) solves their problem with it, it is OK, it is very likely the OP is using it for their thesis, and will never use LaTeX anymore in their life.

If you add another answer, the future users will see it and will be able to make a conscious choice.

Option 2 (leave a comment) is very difficult because it is very difficult to write a comment saying "you are wrong" without seeming impolite, also taking into account that not everybody are fluent in English.

Option 3 (downvote) should be the correct way to go, but downvotes are not fashionable on TeX.SE, and without comment are not polite.

I think option 4 (flagging) is useless in this case.

Answer 3

I don't think that an anonymous comment option would work. If I added a comment "you will get problems with hyperref with this code" anonymously I would probably had to add some proofs and explanations — and then people would identify me anyway. As you said in a comment: at the end we are recognizable not only by our names but also by our actions.

I don't have a problem to comment and I very seldom get bad responses. But I also very seldom insist that the answer is changed or removed. I also don't downvote — I don't think that this has any effect here apart from perhaps angering the writer. Everyone can see from my comment that I don't agree with the answer and make an educated choice. If they make the wrong choice it is their call, they are adults.

I suggest that if you don't want to comment but can't ignore the answer either that you ask someone else to look at it and to comment if they see the need.

Answer 4

The only anonymous way to give feedback is through voting (either up-voting or down-voting). All other means leave a community-visible record.

Similar to what that Newton guy once said, every action has some form of reaction... give or take. You seem to have covered some reaction with every option you list. It is a bit extreme to assume that every option you list will result in an end-of-the-world scenario. If that happens to be the case, then it's best to step away. However, if your interest is in the greater good, then I propose the following sequence:

1. Comment on the answer, suggesting a change with sufficient motivation as to why. Wait for a response.

2. If there's no response and the person has clearly been back on the site, poke again and request a change. Wait for a response.

3. If they still haven't responded, you can edit the post and make the necessary changes, keeping the solution similar. Leave a comment that you've changed it. The OP can roll it back if they wish - the site offers that option.

4. If they roll back the changes, post your own answer.

Note that each of the above elements (or the sequence of events) support your notion of "helping others" - your main aim is geared at improving the site (which allows for multiple answers) and giving the original questioner (and future visitors) the best answer they can get.

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Flagging here does not help, since the available options aren't valuable:

• Spam: It's not.
• Rude or abusive: It's not.
• Not an answer: It is an answer, just not using good practices.
• Very low quality: It does not "suffer from severe formatting or content problems" and the answer "is salvageable through editing".
• In need of moderator attention: This is not a job for a moderator...

Flagging a question as very low quality puts in the Low Quality Posts review queue which only allows for the options

• Looks OK: It would be OK to some users who have similar coding practices
• Edit: This is covered above.
• Delete (or Recommend Deletion): This is not appropriate, since it still represents an answer, may have votes or even be accepted.
• Skip: This seems to skirt the issue or make flagging it useless.