Looks like the site is turning into that type of discussion board, where those who type faster get the higher recognition. I understand that project management is not programming, there is no "one right answer". But we should remember that our site is about answering questions, not discussing problems.
We have to try to give right answers, not just answers some of us like more because they have more words.
Long answers tend to be better organized and explained and flush out other issues and resolutions not mentioned explicitly in the original question. From my experience answering, I find this is why my answers get voted up -- I'm not the first or the best, but I answer more of what's asked (and implicitly asked).
Many of the SE sites suffer from the fastest gun in the west problem. But actually, I can't say I feel like that's a problem here.
Most of the high voted answers have good substance, from what I can tell.
Of course, the most important thing is that the answers are thoughtful, good quality, and answer the question.
In summary, I don't agree they should be flagged as spam. Instead, users should leave comments with advice on how to improve the question/answer.
I don't think the length of the answer is an issue. There are questions where I expect short answer (e.g. one about Kanban board app) and those where it's really hard to give a good, yet short answer (e.g. one about handing a project over).
Also I find longer answer usually well-thought, especially when they're structured and contains links to external sources.
I'd even go the other way pointing some very short and very quick answers as lower quality, but then they don't tend to be voted up so I guess that's not a real issue.
When a question is complex, it requires a complete answer. Looking for the quick answer will often result in too little information, or too much 'conversation' for clarification. In here people are looking for information not data.
I would also suggest that we don't want to encourage people to put links in their answers to off site information unless it's really pertinent to the question. Encouraging links will lead to spam and that will reduce the effectiveness of the site.
