How to handle answers you don't agree with?

Question

I provided an answer on this question last week which was quickly commented on by a user who provided conflicting information with no assumptions or evidence to support their opinion. Granted I did initially answer the question without a picture I was able to find one online one later to help substantiate my answer which was based initially on experience.

It surprised me that a user who had enough reputation to show that they had been on the site for a reasonable period to just comment rather than provide a substantial answer that would actually help the OP. I then thought what would the correct way of approaching this be:

• vote down;
• provide a conflicting answer; or
• comment on it.

How do others approach this?

Answer 1

This is how I approach a situation where I come across an answer that I do not fully agree with:

1. Downvote

2. Leave a detailed comment as to why I downvoted. I usually explicitly state -1 in the comment so that the answerer knows:

   • It was me that downvoted (as opposed to the rogue downvoter who can't be bothered to leave feedback ;] )
   • There is a specific reason why

3. Star the question. I like to keep tabs on the activity of the question so that I do not erroneously leave a downvote on an answer that might change. I think this is important and a lot of people choose to downvote and leave which can push people away especially when voters fail to leave a reason or upvote a comment that covers why they downvoted.

4. If the answerer improves their post or if enough time has passed, I remove it from my favorites. This time varies from post to post depending on the activity on the question but usually I will leave it starred for 2 or 3 weeks to give the answerer time.

Keep in mind that this is the exact reason to downvote. It shouldn't be taken offensively, StackExchange was built this way on purpose. It should be motivation to leave good, thorough answers that can be proven and improve answers that can be ameliorated. If you feel that you cannot provide this in an answer then you probably should leave it as a comment. If it is due to the way a question is asked, consider editing the question or notifying OP that the answers to their question are likely to be subjective.

I think the option of leaving a conflicting answer is at times a good solution but, you should only leave an answer when you're able to leave concrete facts or examples.

_{One minor thing to add; many users don't visit a post again after downvoting so keep this in mind when providing an answer that's lacking proof/evidence that you might plan to provide later.}

Answer 2

in this case it was laziness & the rather vague question that prevented me from giving a full separate answer.

If you were offended at all, I'll gladly delete my comments. After our discussion I did comment on the question asking for the year of the frame, but that user seems to have gotten bored of B.SE and hasn't replied.

The Trinitys seem to have 1-piece hangers up until 2004 as far as I can see

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Now, onto the question at hand.

I prefer to comment on answers I disagree with. I find an anonymous downvote rather rude and tend to reserve them for spam & what not, but I usually just flag those.

Downvotes don't add anything to anyone's understanding either. I think it's much more helpful to have a conversation about this kind of thing.

And if I had an answer I knew was on the money, I'd post that instead and let nature take its course.

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Once again, sorry if I seemed rude before.

Answer 3

I've seen several times where I think people get mixed up between "disagree" and "unhelpful".

My take on SE is that they are not necessarily the same thing, that the former does not warrant a downvote, and that the latter does.

It's quite easy to imagine a question that would fall into this category, for example "what's the most important factor to consider when buying a new [whatever] ?" Its easy to imagine conflicting answers as different people highlight different factors. And yet all answers could be helpful, and could be inappropriate to downvote.

I mean, you can also imagine types of questions where disagreeing with an answer, and the answer bring unhelpful, are synonymous. But I'm just saying that it ain't necessarily so.

To address your specific question, if I don't agree with an answer I would either add a comment to the answer, and/or write my own answer. Or I might do nothing, of course. But on the grounds of disagreement I absolutely would not downvote it - because I believe that I'd then be using the SE voting system in a way it was not intended to be used.