Is it acceptable to ask a question then immediately close it as a duplicate to aid searching?

Question

I recently found the solution to the problem I was having in this question. However, it took a while to find, as it doesn't contain the error message I was getting:

The property "Behaviors" does not have an accessible setter.

In general, one can ask a question containing a different expression of the problem, with the same solution.

One thing I thought of doing was asking the question again containing the content I was searching for, then promptly close it as a duplicate as the original. Is this an acceptable thing to do?

Answer 1

One thing I thought of doing was asking the question again containing the content I was searching for, then promptly close it as a duplicate as the original. Is this an acceptable thing to do?

I disagree with this approach. Closed questions count against a user and can lead to a question ban. So encouraging people to purposely create duplicate questions may not work in their best interests.

Instead, editing is the way to go. Editing a question to make it more inclusive of a similar problem is okay as long as it's not changing the core of the question.

With that said, if your question would change the core of the supposed duplicate, then it's not a duplicate. Instead, do what Jeff suggests, write and answer your own question, Q&A style, being very clear what the question is, and then answering it like you would a question asked by another user.

Just because two questions have the same answers doesn't make both questions a duplicate.

It's of course perfectly okay to cite the other question and answer in your post, so you can still accomplish the goal of linking them together without the post being closed.

Answer 2

No.

Editing the original question achieves the same result with less clutter.

If the question and answer are similar, but not identical, you may ask and answer your own question (and perhaps link to the question that gave you the answer).