-4

I recently flagged this answer on MSO as NAA. My flag was declined with the message:

declined - a moderator reviewed your flag, but found no evidence to support it

Why was this an acceptable answer?

  • 4
    Because it tries to answer the question! (I upvoted that answer because it's right at the beginning) – user6820627 Oct 24 '16 at 1:23
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    It is probably meant as a rethorical question and not as a real "normal" question. – Rizier123 Oct 24 '16 at 1:43
  • Do you know it's possible to phrase an answer as a question? – Will Oct 24 '16 at 18:01
  • 1
    Linked answer's author's note: I've edited the answer one week after this question was asked. You can see what it looked like at the moment this got posted here: meta.stackoverflow.com/revisions/335856/1 – dorukayhan Oct 31 '16 at 20:59
13

The answer you linked to is an acceptable answer because the following question:

What prevents you from moving on?

is actually an implicit answer to the following question:

What do I do when the OP can't understand the answer?

It suggests that when you encounter a question where the asker is incapable of understanding the answer despite your best efforts, you should just move on.

That said, it can be rephrased like this to look less like a non-answer while making sure the first comment on it makes sense:

Just move on - what prevents you from answering questions whose askers will understand your answer?

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