Recently I received a feedback on flagging an answer as "No and answer" (it really didn't answer the question!), that Flags should not be used to indicate technical inaccuracies, or an altogether wrong answer.
If this is the case, than is it a right thing to have the option of "Not an answer" for as a flag?
The flag was raised here.
So here's the crux of the issue: what is an answer?
An answer is an attempt to solve the problem posed in the question. In this example, the user wants to handle a popup. The answer provided is a roundabout way of getting past the popup, but happens to not meet the user's needs. That doesn't mean it doesn't answer the question. It means it answers the question unsatisfactorily.
We have a bad tendency to love "thinking outside the box" when it solves the problem, and at the same time look down upon those who do so when it doesn't. The correctness of an answer does not determine its existence as an answer.
