by AB-Rich on December 11th, 2006

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When should I flag an answer or question as 'nonsense'?

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by AB-Rich on December 11th, 2006
Careful with this one. Just because you can't immediately understand a question or answer doesn't necessarily mean it's nonsense (we longtime moderators have gotten many omelettes' worth of egg on our faces for misinterpreting questions and answers, and many of you Answerbaggers have had to calmly educate us). Often the category in which a question or answer has been submitted may provide some clarifying context. However, questions that are vague or incomprehensible should be flagged as nonsense. Similarly, if an answer does not reference the question in any way, or if it rambles on without giving a true answer, then the answer should be flagged as nonsense.

Answers to questions that you simply don't like, or just simply disagree with should not be flagged as nonsense. Additionally, opinions, or answers that have incorrect premises or facts, shouldn't be considered nonsense. If you flag answers with incorrect facts as being nonsense, the flag will probably be rejected. Such answers should be rated down rather than flagged.

Some examples of nonsense answers include:

Answer:

"....sorry I did this again.... Supposed to be a comment!!!! Sorry =( I am having a newbie day or something..."

Answer:

"Don't know"

Answer:

"Yeah, me too"

An example of a nonsense question include:

Question:

"How to strike a balance between vision and action? vision without action is daydreaming. it hurts the inner self.. Action without vision is Brownian movement and more dangerous it can hurt u physically.what is the formula for balance/"
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- O.K. The first sentence is not nonsense. The second sentence is o.k. too. What follows is nonsense. If one responds to the part that makes sense, what would be so wrong? That "Brownian" part is irrelevant, isn't it? Thanks in advance for your response, AB-Rich! Happy Tuesday! :)
  
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  by RosieGHM Jetpacker on February 10th, 2009
- Hmmmm...Just wondering--what part of the "Brownian part"--is a QUESTION???
  
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  by Robertd903 on June 22nd, 2009
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by Firebrand on February 21st, 2007
Whatever the person flagging feels like, it seems and sometimes even the most sensible of questions are flagged as nonsense because somebody does not agree with the question.
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by LittleWings on July 7th, 2008
I'd like to ask if your seeing questions like-
I lost my dog, have you seen him?

Now thats nonsense right???

Because I'm seeing alot of these types of very random and very childish questions, questions that have been asked clearly to be silly.
I mean how can you really answer a question like that, should we ask where they are located and to post a photo of the pet and when the pet was last seen????
Where's the line really???

I know I'm new but I'm old and I've been a wife and mother and although I'd like to help people, I can get asked dumb unanswerable questions at any time by my husband or my teens.
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- Sorry, those aren't necessarily nonsense questions as they could bre asking for a humorous reply. If they just said "I lost my dog again", then that would be nonsense. Or if they wrote "A lost dog is still a dog" That's nonsense. Questions that are not questions are often found to be nonsense. Nonsense questions are the HARDEST to get right with the moderators. Don't do it unless you are absolutely certain it is nonsense according to AB standards, not what you think is nonsense.
  
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  by Galeanda on July 7th, 2008
- Ok thank you for the answer, seems highly confusing...but I'll try for my own sake to be good...please remember I am a mom of young adults and teens and nonsense doesn't fly well in this house...lol
  
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  by LittleWings on July 7th, 2008
- I've been here for over a year and am very good at moderating but I still hesitate on Nonsense questions. It's just too hard to tell. There are people here who seem to specialize in nothing but nonsense questions in my mind but I know the Staff moderators would never accept them as such LOL!!! So I just flag the ones I know for sure are nonsense, you know, ones that go "aijh;p[[ ljsoid 2223???" LOL!!! That I KNOW is Nonsense:-)
  
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  by Galeanda on July 7th, 2008
- lol yes that would be nonsense for sure, unless it's some secret code we should be trying to crack, but to be honest, I'm old tired and fat...I don't like codes...you've been great wish I could have pointed you for your comments.
  
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  by LittleWings on July 7th, 2008
- That's fine. As long as you got something out of it and it helped:-)
  
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  by Galeanda on July 7th, 2008
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by Jenniferocious on February 21st, 2007
Anything that doesn't make sense, really.

If the question says "Auth iehr papapeklrhe is?" (Or any combination of letters that don't spell words) You can safely flag it as nonsense.

If the words that are strung together don't form a coherent question.. like: "Is that which you aren't love the world why can I not talk up windy hills?" Flag that as nonsense too.

Basically, if the question doesn't make sense, you can flag it as nonsense. It your flag is approved, you get points. If it isn't, you get an email explaining why is wasn't approved.
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- its great that you might get points if the flag is approved..but not so great if the user thinks his/her question was actually a real question-and gets docked negative points..where is customer care dept?
  
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  by Juggernaut on February 21st, 2007
- You don't get negative points just for having one of your questions rejected. If people rate your question down, the question loses points, but the points are not deducted from your overall total. You, as a user, do not lose points. And, if you feel that your question was legitimate, then email admin@answerbag.com and state your case. Include a link to the question, and your explaination for why it should be reinstated. The staff here is very fair, and very responsive. They will be glad to discuss it with you. Perhaps your question needed to be reworded, as it couldn't be understood by other people.
  
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  by Jenniferocious on February 21st, 2007
- recently i have emailed directly through that address, but noreplies..i assume Joel and staff are very busy..sometimes, i want a prompt reply, but i cant have my way lol
  
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  by Juggernaut on February 21st, 2007
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by Juggernaut on February 21st, 2007
iam unsure myself..at first, i thought crazy thoughts is a category for even nonsense questions..i learned hard way, as one of mine was deemed to be nonsense..and how do i appeal by overturning the ruling? im still a noob, forgive my indirect reply
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by Rollie on February 9th, 2009
http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/5521917

I consider this nonsense because I cannot read it.

How much of texting language is acceptable.
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Question

When should I flag an answer or question as 'nonsense'?

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Why do people flag questions marked as humor as nonsense? I asked a question that i really wanted to see how people would answer, and some jerk flagged it as nonsense and the mod actually went through with it. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/409852

If you flag a nonsense question/answer as offensive will it still be removed? Or do you have to get it right?

I answered my own question instead of commenting. Not enough coffee yet. How do I flag my own answer as nonsense?

Do you think AB should remove the "Nonsense" flag altogether? A flag for "Gibberish/Incomprehensible" would be useful, but some of our best and most fun questions and answers were "nonsense" in the sense of being pure silliness.

I flagged this question for being nonsense: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/781828 AB staff told me: "The flag was not accepted because: Not quite nonsense, but thanks." Was I ripped off or what?

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When should I flag an answer or question as 'nonsense'?

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