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I am often getting into this situation where I give an answer to a question and by the time I post it, others also provide almost the same answer. Now people who answered along with me are commenting that how my answer is different from them. I am bit embarrassed and I honestly tell that by the time I posted my answer, other answers also posted just in a matter of minutes.

So later I will delete my answer since there are multiple same answers provided.

Instead of deleting my answer what are the other alternatives I can do here? Is there a scope to add some feature for these type of scenarios?

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    Deleting is fine, I see it happening many times and do it myself many times. What exactly are you suggesting? (tagged feature request so what feature exactly you request)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Feb 15, 2012 at 7:45
  • I'd be interested to know how many of my own answers I have deleted. It's non-trivial amount, I'm sure. Many for just this reason.
    – Andrew Barber
    Commented Feb 15, 2012 at 8:17
  • @ShaDowWizArd: I think we can have something like moderators have access to mark/tag/higlight the same answer. It will help the readers as well. I know if the answer is a complexed one, then it is difficult is judge whether it is same as others, but for simple answers we can do that.
    – Jayy
    Commented Feb 15, 2012 at 8:44
  • @KaipaMSarma The community already marks answers as equivalent with votes. Asking moderators to do something that requires any expertise in a topic is outside the scope of what they do. It would also lead to people complaining about their decisions. People already complain when the OP marks the "wrong" answer as accepted.
    – Some Helpful Commenter
    Commented Feb 15, 2012 at 17:40

1 Answer 1

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If you feel your answer is a duplicate and manners say that the other user posted theirs first, then you can think about deleting it.

However, if your answer is unique or offers a different (hopefully correct) perspective, then leave it in the mix. Even better, improve it. Edit the heck out of it so that it contains additional pertinent information and is worded as efficiently as possible. It may seem that people get a lot of upvotes for being fast up front, but really it's the quality answers that get noticed in the long run.

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  • yeah, thank you. I wanted to know what is best. I will also try to improve answer if it is unique in terms of approach.
    – Jayy
    Commented Feb 15, 2012 at 8:42

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