In a recent question someone both VTC (vote to close) based on "require a goal we can address" and answered.
That seems inconsistent to me. Is it proper to both VTC and answer.
In a recent question someone both VTC (vote to close) based on "require a goal we can address" and answered.
That seems inconsistent to me. Is it proper to both VTC and answer.
I think it depends a lot on the specific question. There is a balance between trying to help (which is why we are here, right?) and trying to keep the site helpful (which is why other people come here)
We close/remove bad questions, because we want to keep the site true to its goal of being a good resource for people with certain issues. More clutter and more vague questions means it becomes less effective in giving you the information you need.
On the other hand, we answer questions because someone has an actual problem that they want solved.
Sometimes, we both realize that the question does not really belong here and that we can answer it easily and help out the OP. In such cases, it's possible to both VTC and answer it. It helps the asker with his issue, and flags the question for being improper for the site as a whole.
Your question was triggered due to the activity on this question (How to negotiate salary with an extremely unprofessional in-house recruiter?) as I can infer from your comments there. The "someone" you are referring to is me since I have both answered and voted to close. The close vote was a honest mistake, no malicious intentions here.
I will explain what happened in this specific case.
In the general case, though, I would certainly find it a bit strange to answer a question and also say that we need a goal to address (regardless of the order of those actions).
However, the real issue here is the system allows it, and some people have bent over backwards to absurd extents to defend similar strange features, as seen in the answers to my own question here: Why can I vote to both reopen and delete a question at the same time?
I don't recall ever having done so, but should the issue ever arise, I could see doing so if I felt that I could help the person, but still feel it doesn't fit the requirements on the board.
If, for example, someone is lost and needs some guidance on what would clearly fall under "advice on what to do". I might still impart some advice before doing a VTC. The user will get to see the advice, and use it, but it won't clutter the board.
While we do need to maintain standards, I assume that the primary reason most of us are here is to be of service to others.
Closing an answer effectively just prevents it from taking up more time from the users on questions that are a bad fit.
A user who is already on the question might as well offer a short solution if they can, but at the same time, the right thing to do is to VTC a question that doesn't fit.
I did this today.
I want to help OP, but I also believe that the question is Off-Topic for the site. In my opinion the question should be closed, but until it is I still am trying to help OP solve his/her problem. As a consequence, I both answer the question and Vote To Close.
I don't feel strongly about this but I feel it is improper for both VTC and answer.
One it is inconsistent and two you answer but then vote to deny others the option to answer.