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Only recently I earned the privilege to review Low-Quality Posts. I am now wondering how the system determines if a post is (possibly) low-quality or not. The review header always displays the same message:

This answer was flagged as low-quality because of its length and content.

This reads as if the system had an automatic criteria for deciding which posts to add to the review queue. Is this true or are these actually posts flagged by users (e.g. flag as "very low quality").

If it's an automatic criteria, then I'd be interested in learning more about how it works. If the criteria is elaborate I suggest to give a more precise message about why a post has been flagged, because this would help reviewers to investigate potential issues more thoroughly.

If it's only posts flagged by users, then I suggest changing the message, because it's misleading (at least for me as a non-native speaker).

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  • Hm. Didn't find that one through search. Your comment on that other post suggests, that the automatic criteria is simply "the post looks too short". Is that true?
    – Alexander Tobias Bockstaller
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 14:06
  • I'm not saying it's a duplicate, I'm just noting that it's a similar topic that was posted 4 minutes before yours. As for your question, I know we pull "short content" posts, but with the recent influx in VLQ count, there is another factor. I'll try to hunt that down.
    – gunr2171
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 14:08
  • From this answer: The Very Low Quality queue now also gets lots of reported flags: Let's get rid of the 10K flag queue This, obviously, means this queue is getting bigger (and the votes queue getting smaller).
    – gunr2171
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 14:10

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Once upon a time all of the posts in the queue were added automatically based on a set of criteria. Since then, changes have been made such that several types of flags are also directed into that queue.

You should not really concern yourself with how a post ended up in the queue, but rather whether, and how, you should act on it. If a post entered the queue due to a Not an Answer flag, but it is in fact an answer, just a sufficiently low quality one to merit deletion, then the improper flag shouldn't stop you from handling the post appropriately.

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    "You should not really concern yourself with how a post ended up in the queue..." sounds rather offensive, especially in this community. What harm can come from the desire to know "how" and "why?"
    – George Cummins
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 14:18
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    @GeorgeCummins It should have no bearing on how you act on the post. If it did, it would likely mean you're not taking the proper action. How the post enters the queue isn't something that should be considered when determining how to respond to a post in that queue.
    – Servy
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 14:21
  • @Servy: If the reviewer knew why a post has been flagged this could point him directly to potential issue. If he could verify the issue, then the review would be completed in less time. Conversely, without knowing what the issue might be he might overlook something. btw: didn't feel offended by your answer...
    – Alexander Tobias Bockstaller
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 15:24
  • @AlexanderTobiasHeinrich There are really very few things to look at for a VLQ post; with so few options to consider, along with the fact that pretty much all of the options are super obivous and quickly disgnosed, I don't see this being an issue in practice, as opposed to say the close vote queue in which there are a lot of options to consider, they can be subtle and require a lot of time/effort/attention to see, etc, which is why the specific close reason is shown in that queue.
    – Servy
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 15:27
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    @Servy: I believe there's quite a few things to consider when handling the VLQ queue. Example: Many of these answers are code only. I don't think that this makes it a low-quality answer per se. If the answer is correct, and the code needs no explanation, because it's obvious what it does, then I see no reason to delete it. If, in such a case I knew that the answer was flagged by the system solely because of its short length, then I'd most likely press "Looks Good". If instead it was flagged by a user, I'd examine much more thoroughly and perhaps even try to verify the answer.
    – Alexander Tobias Bockstaller
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 15:42
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    @AlexanderTobiasHeinrich That's exactly what we don't want; people immediately assuming the post looks good just because it was flagged for a reason that they don't think applies. There are only a couple of things to check for in the VLQ queue, and checking every single one of them can usually be done in just a few seconds. You should make sure that the post is attempting to answer the question, and that it meets the few minimal standards for an attempted answer. You should do this regardless of why the post is in the queue. You shouldn't ignore problems because that wasn't why it was flagged.
    – Servy
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 15:46
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    @Servy: Checking if a post is an attempt to answer the question, means reading and understanding the question entirely, then reading and understanding the answer entirely. I don't think this can be done in just a few seconds.
    – Alexander Tobias Bockstaller
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 15:57
  • @AlexanderTobiasHeinrich In virtually all cases no, it doesn't. Remember there is a huge difference between a post that actually answers a question, and a post that attempts to answer the question. You pretty much never need to read the question to know if the answer clearly isn't even trying to answer the question. It's when you see answers like, "Why would you want to do this?", "Please provide more code.", "I also have this problem.", etc. that are the common examples of not an answer. A failed attempt at an answer is still an answer.
    – Servy
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 15:59
  • @Servy: Well, if all I need to do is only check whether it looks as if it could be a valid answer or a proper question, then reviewing VLQ posts is actually a lot easier than I thought.
    – Alexander Tobias Bockstaller
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 16:07

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