I like WesleyDavid's formula for flagging; personally I am far more likely to downvote bad answers (and/or comment as to why they are bad) than to suggest they be completely removed.

I suspect this apparent predilection for flagging comes from a few different (and sometimes overlapping) motivations:

1. Flagging sort of passes the problem on to someone else.
2. Downvotes cost rep, and some people are far too focused on rep gain.
3. IMHO, far too many sysadmins have this visceral hate for anything they consider to be "stupidity". I suspect this is often coupled with some amount of feeling that "I am certain the given answer is stupid/wrong, but conversely I am not certain of the canonical right answer."

Personally I've been a bit dismayed by the abrupt and binary responses to some bad answers/questions I've seen around here. To me it seems that there is often a voiced impulse to blast things into oblivion rather than take the time and consideration necessary to improve them.

I like WesleyDavid's formula for flagging; personally I am far more likely to downvote bad answers (and/or comment as to why they are bad) than to suggest they be completely removed.

I suspect this apparent predilection for flagging comes from a few different (and sometimes overlapping) motivations:

1. Flagging sort of passes the problem on to someone else.
2. Downvotes cost rep, and some people are far too focused on rep gain.
3. IMHO, far too many sysadmins have this visceral hate for anything they consider to be "stupidity". I suspect this is often coupled with some amount of feeling that "I am certain the given answer is stupid/wrong, but conversely I am not certain of the canonical right answer."

Personally I've been a bit dismayed by the abrupt and binary responses to some bad answers/questions I've seen around here. To me it seems that there is often a voiced impulse to blast things into oblivion rather than expend the time and consideration necessary to improve them.