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When I first got enough reputation to review the queue, I had no idea how to use my new "powers". I had the hardest time understanding when I should "Recommend Deletion" for the "Low Quality Posts".

On most sites, most answers in the queue are clearly low-quality or non-answers that have zero or negative scores. However, on this site, the answers there tend to be more substantive, sometimes having positive votes (preventing me from voting to delete directly), and generally older rather than newer.

When should users be recommending deletion of answers, or if they have enough reputation, voting to delete answers with non-positive scores?

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Here follows a list of all the reasons why an answer might be deleted:


The answer is a "try this" solution...

... without (enough) explanation on why should one try the solution.

We require that answers provide some sort of explanation for why they are suggesting a solution. If an answer isn't properly backed-up, it will be deleted.


The answer does not provide any backup

We require answers here to be back up by either personal experience or external sources. An answer that doesn't provide those things or is too vague/not details enough about the backup will be deleted.


The answer is a bad frame-challenge...

... that doesn't respect the premise of the question, meaning that it doesn't give to OP a way to achieve what they want to achieve.

Even though a frame-challenge is okay, a bad one isn't. We require answers to respect the OP's request and answer the actual question asked.


The answer is a duplicate of an older answer

Answers that repeat ideas that were already posted in previous answers are considered duplicates, and should be deleted. Instead, users should upvote answers they agree with, and potentially suggest improvements if the additional information is minor.


The answer isn't about interpersonal skills

Answers that don't provide an interpersonal solution are off-topic here and should be deleted.


The answer doesn't answer the question

Answers that are explaining a situation instead of giving a solution or are giving a solution to different problems should be deleted.


In many cases, answers that fall into the above categories which make them eligible for deletion are longer and higher-quality than typical "low-quality" answers across the network. However, they should still be reviewed as "Recommend Deletion" or "Delete". This also applies to older answers that were posted back when the site's guidelines were still being refined, which is why you may find answers that are older and/or have positive scores in the queue: while such answers can't be deleted from the queue directly, reviewing them for deletion will raise them to the attention of moderators who can.

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