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I wrote a question and after getting responses, I realized that didn't write it accurately. I updated the question, however the volume of views have drop drastically.

I'm wondering if my question really needs to be rewritten; could I ask a new question that has a better focus? The question is really in general, as I have found myself in this situation a few times. However, the question that I just re-wrote is this.

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2 Answers 2

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If the answers that were provided answered the question that you asked, then a new question should be posted to reflect what you meant to ask; otherwise it feels, and this is entirely subjective, unfair to those that took the time to post answers to the best of their knowledge, and experience, in order to help you solve the problem you had as it was written in the question.

Edits to questions should, in my opinion, clarify the question that was asked, and to provide further information, not change the focus of the question itself.

Without seeing the question to which you refer it's very difficult to answer with any certainty, though.

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    I agree with you. I just don't want to be accused of anything like cheating the system. I really just want my question answered.
    – webdad3
    Aug 9, 2011 at 17:34
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I'm not sure that there is a good way to handle this situation without penalizing those who answered.

If you delete the bad question, you cheat those who tried to help you of rep. If you leave it open, you cheat those who come later and read it of their time.

I think the only solution to this is for you to edit your question to fix it and alert, with a comment, those who answered your original question. They can fix their answers or optionally delete them.

Again, I don't think there is a good way to handle this situation, other than taking a breather before asking.

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    you are right as well. I agree about the breather as well. Usually I need a cup of coffee before asking too :)
    – webdad3
    Aug 9, 2011 at 19:16
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    @JeffV: I usually try to isolate my issue in a prototype (of the problem) solution. 7 times out of 10 I end up figuring out my problem was solvable or that it was completely different. My Test Projects folder (where I prototype issues and test stuff that I could easily ask a question about) is over 300mb. That represents a lot of dumb.
    – user1228
    Aug 9, 2011 at 19:21

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