25

Suppose you had a question, and you really want a good answer that would solve your problem, but noticed it was already asked by someone else. Now, a lot of answers had been posted and upvoted, and maybe one was accepted. However, none of the answers solved your problem. The system does not promote the question very much because it is not considered "unanswered", and a lot of users who would otherwise bother to give a correct answer will probably skip the question completely as there are already many highly-voted answers.

Now, what should you do in this case?

One idea is to ask a new, completely identical question, but now you're in control to decide when it is answered. But would that go against SE policy?

2
  • a related problem is: you ask a question and get a few answers, but none of them are correct, but the question is now so old no one ever sees it; editing the question brings it to the top of the Active list but only for a few minutes because the site is so busy... Oct 8, 2008 at 21:09
  • 2
    Bounty is not there for that? to attract new answer to that question
    – yagmoth555
    Oct 10, 2017 at 12:09

4 Answers 4

26

Personally, I would start a new question and specify in the writeup the reason why the duplicate (with a link to the original) is being created.

13

If you can describe an objective difference in what is a correct answer to your question versus the existing question, then ask away.

If your question really is identical to the existing question (so that you cannot ask a new non-duplicate question), and the problem is entirely that the existing question's answers are poor, then you can set a bounty on the question, offering a reward for improved answers.

4
  • Bounties are for the lucky few. - What would a new user do in such a case? - Remember new users are the ones we should help most, not the already existing crowd.
    – paul23
    Jan 26, 2018 at 12:24
  • @paul23 How's that ? We're here to build a knowledge base to help everyone, no one worth more help than another...
    – Tensibai
    Jan 31, 2018 at 13:42
  • A new user has more "potential" to learn things faster than someone who is already using something for a long time. - Thus if the goal is to improve the general knowledge of the total group one gains progress the fastest by helping new users first. On top of that new users are potential future helpers, while older people either are already helping others, or not interested in that. So in quickening the learning process of a new user the help offered growth which speeds up the process even more etc etc.
    – paul23
    Jan 31, 2018 at 14:57
  • @paul23 I'm intending in this answer to document the currently available, “proper”, options. If you think there should be a better option for new users, I would suggest starting a new discussion instead of commenting here.
    – Kevin Reid
    Jan 31, 2018 at 15:18
7

A completely identical question will probably get voted down, but if you carefully explain why the answer to the original question is unsatisfactory you might get a better answer

6

I would say, "Yes", but the history here is that any such question is likely to get severely downvoted and closed.

If you can find something to distinguish your question from the previous one beyond a simple re-wording, and link to that as a "starting point", you might get away with it.

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