What should you do to fix the answer to a flagged question?

Answer 1

It all depends what is wrong with it. If the problem is bullying, threats, slander, an abusive registered poster, or flagging abuse, then the best thing to do is let a supervisor handle it.

If it is vandalism, gibberish, and inappropriate language, then usually you would delete the content in question. You may have to blank the answer if it is really bad and you don't have a better answer.

If it is spelling and grammar problems or some minor gibberish, or a few inappropriate words, then just fix those. Try to use proper punctuation, grammar, spelling, and terminology. If sexual slang and vulgar terms for body parts are used, you should replace them with the correct medical terms. Do remember that only one character of a particular punctuation should be used. However, ellipses (three periods...) are allowed.

Other problems are harder to fix. If something is confirmed to be plagiarism (copyright abuse, copying and pasting from other sites), then you should either try to rewrite it from scratch or to change most of it. If you opt to extensively edit the plagiarized content, then you would start by correcting the typos, removing any odd fonts or strange layout, and changing things that seem awkward to you. Then you'd see if any of it is reduntant or in a less than optimal order and remove or reorder content. If anything isn't necessary to answering the question, remove it and add anything you think is pertinent. Then try paraphrasing as much as you can, reorder any lists, use different terms unless the terms are standard and required, etc. It would be preferable to find other sources besides the original to pad it out more and make it seem more original. However, this approach can be tricky and may not be thorough enough, so you might do better to start from scratch.

Merge cleanup, repetition, and poor structure can be a challenge. What you do here is remove any repetition and structure things to where they are logical and make sense.

One-sided can be a challenge. You may just need to add the missing viewpoints or at least remove some inflammatory statements. The challenge is when you are biased. It might be hard to see a similar bias as bias. A rule of thumb here is to ask what you feel. If sections are a tad uncomfortable but you cannot find anything wrong or any way to defend against what was said, there is a good chance that the text is likely neutral.

If it is flagged as containing personal details, then remove any home address, phone number, or URL. If the URL is not personal or spam but is needed as a reference or support of the answer, then move it to the Related Links section.