The network-wide deletion FAQ address criteria for deletion:

For answers, any post that is not an answer (should be a comment, doesn't answer the question, etc.) should be deleted. Answers that are wrong or that dispense poor advice should be downvoted, not deleted.

 

These are general guidelines; some communities in the network may uphold more specific reasons to delete posts or not. For example, on Puzzling.SE, answers to a puzzle without explanation are subject to deletion, and some technical sites will delete answers which are not only wrong but also harmful when tried.

I'm not aware of any established modifications to this.

A couple specific things though:

• Incomprehensible answers that can't be salvaged through editing aren't answers.
• Sometimes the question may be asking for explanation, in which case barebones yes/no posts aren't answers.

I believe I'd support extending that last point slightly, to require "sufficient" explanation, e.g. a rules quote. But let's not make this about right vs wrong; if someone says "yes the rules say so", that's not a good answer whether it's true or not. So if we want to delete it based on a lack of explanation if it's wrong, I believe we should apply the same standards to similarly brief correct answers.

I really don't want us to get into the business of evaluating right/wrong via delete votes. For the sake of future readers, it's sufficient to knock an answer down to the bottom with downvotes, and possibly leave a comment about what the issue is. I know it might be even better to have it entirely gone if we're absolutely sure, but it's not always easy to be sure, and it's hard for other users to check our work if the answer is deleted.

The network-wide deletion FAQ address criteria for deletion:

For answers, any post that is not an answer (should be a comment, doesn't answer the question, etc.) should be deleted. Answers that are wrong or that dispense poor advice should be downvoted, not deleted.

These are general guidelines; some communities in the network may uphold more specific reasons to delete posts or not. For example, on Puzzling.SE, answers to a puzzle without explanation are subject to deletion, and some technical sites will delete answers which are not only wrong but also harmful when tried.

I'm not aware of any established modifications to this.

A couple specific things though:

• Incomprehensible answers that can't be salvaged through editing aren't answers.
• Sometimes the question may be asking for explanation, in which case barebones yes/no posts aren't answers.

I believe I'd support extending that last point slightly, to require "sufficient" explanation, e.g. a rules quote. But let's not make this about right vs wrong; if someone says "yes the rules say so", that's not a good answer whether it's true or not. So if we want to delete it based on a lack of explanation if it's wrong, I believe we should apply the same standards to similarly brief correct answers.

I really don't want us to get into the business of evaluating right/wrong via delete votes. For the sake of future readers, it's sufficient to knock an answer down to the bottom with downvotes, and possibly leave a comment about what the issue is. I know it might be even better to have it entirely gone if we're absolutely sure, but it's not always easy to be sure, and it's hard for other users to check our work if the answer is deleted.