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You normally answer a question and you have the opportunity to answer again. The second time, a message is shown suggesting the use of the edit tool, but I think it's kind of wrong. I mean, if you answer something and then you want to say anything else you know that you must use edit.

Why not disable the answer button if you already have an answer?

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  • 7
    Because you may have another answer that resolves the problem in a completely different way.
    – Josh Mein
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:42
  • But what happen if you just say that you have two ways to answer the question? It's too hard?
    – Castiblanco
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:43
  • 3
    @Castiblanco then people can't vote separately on each suggestion, which they might want to do.
    – Pekka
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:44
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    Josh, Pekka: Wouldn't such question be non-constructive?
    – user138231
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:44
  • 1
    @Chichiray Consider someone wanting to read all the data from an xml file and process it in C#. There are many different options on how to handle that task.
    – Josh Mein
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:46
  • That depends on the question - some questions have a lot of sub questions, which may be answered in different ways (and at different times)
    – acutesoftware
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:46
  • @Josh: Wouldn't such question be overly broad? But yes, I see what you're getting at. I've always just covered all options in 1 answer. This has always worked quite good so far.
    – user138231
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:48
  • @Chichiray: In theory and first glance, yes. But "specific programming problems" can often be solved in multiple ways. That's different to asking questions which encourage multiple answers (polls etc.).
    – Time Traveling Bobby
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:48
  • @Chichiray Normally I would too but depending on the scenario I could see how it could be useful to differentiate between which one the community recommends via the number of upvotes.
    – Josh Mein
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:49

1 Answer 1

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No, people should be able to post multiple answers if they actually have different suggestions. This way the different suggestions can be voted on separately.

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  • 4
    +1 I see what you did there.
    – Kermit
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:46
  • Please note that it makes sense on meta discussions, not on constructive questions :)
    – user138231
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:46
  • 2
    Argh, the 60 seconds rate limit for additional answers is annoying.
    – yannis
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:46
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    Ooooh, so it's to get double the reputation...
    – LittleBobbyTables - Au Revoir
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:46
  • Can't vote up your answer because of rep shortage. But epic!
    – user217724
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:47
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    @Chichiray Not only Meta discussions, sometimes it makes sense on the main site as well. It's rare but it happens (Code Golf.SE is a good example where multiple answers from the same author are common).
    – yannis
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:47
  • I was searching the same question where you answered twice!
    – Himanshu
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:48
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    @hims056 I've done this before? Crap, I guess you can't expect new tricks from an old dog ;)
    – yannis
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:49
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    @BlahBlahGrabblesnackers It's certainly a good way to get double the rep (assuming the answers are good, otherwise you'll probably end up losing double the rep). That said, I'm quite the failed rep whore, I posted both answers after I had hit the rep cap for the day.
    – yannis
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 14:06
  • @LittleBobbyTables If your answers are bad, you lose double the reputation.
    – endolith
    Commented Feb 6, 2016 at 20:01

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