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I recall, but not where, some highly upvoted, accepted answers somewhere that merely quoted text from a website, save one or two sentences sourcing the quote.

I ask as this answer (where I quoted a Reddit comment) was unilaterally deleted on grounds of "plagiarism".

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In a sense - you're asking why the question was deleted.

Are there highly upvoted, accepted answers that quote just a website? is probable. Our standards have evolved to be stricter over time.

That said - just copying large chunks off a website is literally the definition of plagiarism. In theory I could literally replicate the relevant FAQ page

or I could quote the relevant parts

Do not copy the complete text of external sources; instead, use their words and ideas to support your own. And always give proper credit to the author and site where you found the text, including a direct link to it.

and suggest that citing your sources is necessary but not sufficient. Your answer should at the very least paraphrase the information or better yet be a synthesis of various sources and your own ideas.

So no, by right a selected and highly upvoted answer shouldn't largely consist of quotes from external sources, even appropriately cited

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  • It's not plagiarism if the citation is formatted and attributed correctly: the source is named and the name of the author is stated clearly. I don't know if the Op respected this requisite because I don't have enough rep to see deleted posts. Commented May 25, 2019 at 20:22
  • Neither do I but OP's description seems pretty clear Commented May 25, 2019 at 22:37