Adding alternative answer comment to low quality posts queue

Question

When I review posts in the low quality posts queue, sometimes I stumble upon answers which provide alternative solutions instead of reviewing the OP's code.

It would be nice to add this entry (alternative solution) to this list:

Answer 1

I'm reasonably sure that the set of review comments is common to the whole Stack Exchange network, so we can't adapt these to Code Review.

My usual approach is just to add a canned comment (using the AutoReviewComments userscript), then select Delete with "no comment needed".

Answer 2

When I come across these answers I mark them as This is a different question posted as an answer.

To me that's the best option of the current set - it is not a review - and would make a decent question if introduced right.

The real question here is whether there should be a dedicated alternative for this scenario. I agree that it is relatively common (I'd guess 1-in-5 reviews I do in the queue are like this).

For me I am content with the this is a different question posted as an answer option - it encourages the person to think about reformulating it, and adding more questions to the site, inviting additional answers too. What's missing is the wording to encourage the user to alternatively reword the post to make it a review rather than an alternate solution.

So, my suggestion is to add wording to the this is a different question posted as an answer option to make it clear that editing it to be a review instead of a code-dump is an alternative to posting it as a new question. Something like:

Answers on Code Review should provide insights on how the question's code could be improved. Alternative solutions should include descriptions of why the alternative is an improvement. Alternatively, if you have a new question, please ask it by clicking the "Ask Question" button. Include a link to this question if it helps provide context.

For what it's worth, the other somewhat related option 'This is an "I'm having this problem too" comment' is something that should be removed ;-(

Answer 3

When I see an answer that is code only, I believe that the answerer created the code because they felt it was better in some way. If the answer is better in some way, but the Answerer hasn't explained why, I feel that it is still a review, but one that I would downvote until the answerer explains why/how their code is better than the OP's.

In this case, I look at the How do I use the Low-quality posts queue? and in the section marked Basic Workflow, it says:

Choose Looks OK for questions that are on-topic, sufficiently detailed and not too broad. Use this option for answers that answer the question as asked, even if they may be incorrect.

So, this is the option that I would choose. I would also comment on the answer, asking the answerer to explain the code, and downvote the answer. When the answerer edits in the explanation, I would then change my vote.