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    The problem is that answers are seen far more often by people who need the question answered (i.e., who do not already know how to answer, and thus are not in a position to evaluate the answer's correctness) than by experts. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 1:23
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    @KarlKnechtel When they try the answer that you say they need, and it is incorrect, I would have thought they would find it not useful. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 2:55
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    @PolyGeo this often works, except in the case where the top answer is "this is not possible". Then people usually try a different approach, not knowing they would have their answer if they just scrolled a little bit further. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 6:12
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    "I think downvoting should always be part of the solution to incorrect answers." Tried it, it doesn't work. The answer score went from a two digit number to another two digit number. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 6:15
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    "if they are pushed into the range of the Roomba" no answers are automatically deleted by the Roomba. Only by mods, delvotes, and redflags. Also note that voting to delete an answer requires the score to be negative. So if you find one with a score of 1 that isn't red-flaggable and you can't signal a mod to delete it ("wrong" is rarely acceptable for modflags, at least on SO) you cannot delete it even if you downvote, because that takes it only to zero. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 6:23
  • @VLAZ you’re right about the Roomba not deleting answers so I’ve edited that out of mine. I should have reviewed meta.stackexchange.com/q/5221/215590 before writing that. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 8:15
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    @PolyGeo, I downvote incorrect answers too, especially when they result in me writing the entirely wrong code. However, sometimes that just doesn't work. What do you think about editing the answer to at least suggest it has been made invalid due to language/framework updates? Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 18:19
  • @yeerk I’ve improved my answer to incorporate your suggestion. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 19:42
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    @VLAZ a sole downvote may not work but rarely it will. That is why it is only “part of the solution”. It is possible for 11 people doing it to an incorrect answer that started with a score of 10 to turn it to a vulnerable negative score. Each voter plays their part in the solution. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 19:48
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    @PolyGeo the point is that we are woefully underequipped to deal with wrong answers. We could have 11 downvotes counter 10 upvotes. It almost doesn't happen because upvotes typically vastly overshadow downvotes, but still. Then we also need no new upvotes to happen. Which, if something is already positively scored, is rare. But let's say both of these rather unlikely things happen - we still need three users with 20k rep to see this negatively scored answer and vote to delete it. Which is also hard to happen. Overall, the solution downvotes are part of, is at best very inefficient. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 20:01
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    The only tool we have against wrong answers is harshly shutting them down the moment they're posted. once they have momentum it's near impossible to do anything about it. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 20:05
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    There are many ways that an answer can appear to satisfy the requirements of some passerby while still being totally incorrect. ChatGPT wouldn't have caught on nearly as well otherwise. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 22:44
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    Something else that's relevant to this is the trending sort (at least on SO, where it's enabled), where votes decay in "power" over time in terms of sort order (with votes losing half their "trending score" each year). As an example, that means that a single downvote today has the same sort-order pull as 16 4 year old upvotes... All that to say: there's definitely merit to downvoting answers which time has made irrelevant, even when it seems like there's little use. I use the trending sort where possible, and do notice a difference not infrequently. Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 22:55
  • @zcoop98 the trending sort sounds useful and I was not aware of it. Commented Jan 18, 2024 at 1:40