Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A How do you write a Stack Exchange answer?

Answer the question in a way that will provide the reader (askee or searcher) with enough information to have actionable next steps. Do it in the smallest number of valuable words that you can. If ...

posted 7y ago by Kirk‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:06:14Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33643
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Kirk‭ · 2019-12-08T08:06:14Z (almost 5 years ago)
Answer the question in a way that will provide the reader (askee or searcher) with enough information to have actionable next steps. Do it in the smallest number of valuable words that you can. If you must expound, at least organize your thoughts.

Aside, the number next to your answer is a popularity contest for people who have registered. The real metric is unobservable: did this help someone? You may never know.

Allowances: sometimes the real question is not asked; an actionable next step may be to follow up with further research; complex topics may require concise complex answers; people tend to like good answers or those that affirm their views.

Addendum: Read and understand the question, first. We all have preconceived notions we want to talk about. A disproportionate number of answers are simply attempts at proving how smart one is or proselytizing one's personal philosophy. A text which which does not answer the asked question (or the mappable root of that question) is just masterbatory verbiage.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-02-20T20:28:37Z (almost 7 years ago)
Original score: 10