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A couple months ago, we got the question about the legality of playing online poker in the US. John Dibling wrote an informative answer that, unfortunately, is wrong on a couple of key points: https://poker.stackexchange.com/a/459/22

The points that he is wrong on are that the UIGEA outlaws all online poker transactions, which he argues effectively outlaws online poker in the US. The actual text of the UIGEA sets up steep penalties for funding transactions to online gambling if that gambling is already illegal. It does nothing to change the legality of gambling, nor to impact whether or not transactions to anything that is not otherwise expressly illegal.

At the time, I commented and posted my own answer. However, his answer was accepted and received more than double the votes that my answer has received. Later, I returned and added another comment asking John to correct this mistake. That was weeks ago, and no changes have come.

Should we take any steps to correct this? It seems like a big deal to me that it leads our site to spread misinformation about the US law.

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  • Note: I have edited the answer in question to correct the inaccuracy.
    – Jeffrey Blake
    Apr 22, 2012 at 15:52
  • Jeffrey: I can certianly see why you interpreted my answer the way you did. I could have worded that section better. I was trying to be careful to not imply that UIGEA made playing poker illegal by saying "with no legal implication" rather than "without breaking the law." The legal implication I suggested was on the institutions, not the players. My wording was improved by your edits.
    – John Dibling
    Apr 25, 2012 at 20:37
  • In any case, I believe that you and I agree on the facts. Your edits did not change the substance of what I was trying to say, simply the words used to say it. I thought I was fairly clear, but your edits made it more clear. I don't oppose to your edits, and I'm sorry I didn't see this before now -- I've been absent from this site for quite some time.
    – John Dibling
    Apr 25, 2012 at 20:40
  • John: Thanks for touching base on this. I'm glad to hear you agree with the changes. My apologies if this came off as over zealous
    – Jeffrey Blake
    Apr 26, 2012 at 22:36

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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You should Downvote the answer and comment stating why it is incorrect. If someone else has left a comment that corrects the answer, upvote that comment. Upvote correct answers.

If it's a technical problem like a simple typo, you can just edit to fix it; don't change the meaning of the post though. In this case I think editing may be appropriate; it sounds like the whole post isn't correct, it's just got a (significant) technical inaccuracy. I'm not a lawyer/poker player though so I'm not sure how significantly wrong the post is.

If it's actually not an answer you can flag it for a moderator to delete. Moderators aren't supposed to delete incorrect answers though, just not answers.

There's been lots of discussion on wrong accepted answers. Here's another list of options.

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  • I agree that edits should not change the meaning of a post. In this case, Jeffrey did not change the meaning of my post, as I did not intend to suggest that UIGEA made poker illegal, and I did not intend to imply that UIGEA applied to any activity that was not already illegal.
    – John Dibling
    Apr 25, 2012 at 20:43
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@benbrocka gives a good answer.

I agree it's a serious issue if you know it's wrong!

Personally, I won't touch it because I'm not a lawyer. When it comes to that kind of advice " At first do no harm" comes to mind.

That said, if you're sure its incorrect then edit it.

Perhaps leaving a comment on the question notifying readers about the specific answers inaccuracies is another way.

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  • I'm not a lawyer, but enough of my professional life is tied to online poker to make me 100% sure of myself here. Initially I was thinking that editing his answer myself changed the answer too much to be a viable option...But after re-reading his answer, that may not be true. I'll mull it over some more and probably edit in the near future.
    – Jeffrey Blake
    Apr 19, 2012 at 14:59
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SE does not in any way to profess being correct. No reasonable person should act on a legal matter based what they found on SE (or the Internet).

Across the SE sites you will see many incorrect answers accepted. It is not perfect - it is based on votes.

Put out good answers with supporting information. Once you get rep even your unaccepted answers get views. I know many times I have posted the correct answer and then over time it gets more votes than the checked incorrect answer. And some times my correct answer will get a slew of down votes - no skin off my teeth.

It is like an election. People will check the answer they want to hear. It cannot be done even if it is correct is not a popular answer.

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