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The problem: After searching SO for quite a while, you don't find an answer to your question. So you put some effort and research in asking a good question. After posting, someone points out that your question was already answered somewhere else. You check the question and the answer and realize that they solve your problem as well.

So, you obviously have created a dupe! People are starting to vote it down...

The question: What to do after reading Handling Duplicate Questions?

  • Delete
  • Flag
  • Any other possibility?

Note: An alternate title to the question could be "What should you do when your exact question has already been asked and answered properly?" as opposed to What should you do when your exact question has already been asked, but badly?

EDIT: After reading the comments I undeleted my duplicate question.

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    Duplicates are useful sign posts to the main question. Assuming you agree and have the privilege: join in the voting as duplicate (there's no reason to flag as duplicate though since the initial vote will put it in the close queue) – Richard Tingle Apr 4 '14 at 13:54
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    Duplicates shouldn't usually be voted down, unless they are really really lazy. They need to be closed, but they're officially welcome to stick around. – Pekka Apr 4 '14 at 13:54
  • If pointed question is differ with your question then you can indicate it in comment else check the solution. If the solution is not as per your requirement then make again comments. if solution is fit then delete your question. – Code Lღver Apr 4 '14 at 13:56
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    flag / vote to close it as a dupe – gnat Apr 4 '14 at 14:05
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    If you couldn't find the dupe with the search terms you used, and you created the question using those terms then it's likely that other people would / will also use those terms when searching for a question. Therefore it should exist as a duplicate and point to the main canonical post to help everyone when they're searching for the item. So in answer: vote to close as a dupe. Ignore downvotes; if it's downvotes for being a duplicate then that's no reason to downvote. – JonW Apr 4 '14 at 14:22
  • Thanks for your responses. As I result, I undeleted my question and flagged it as dupe. I hope I got you right. Another one in the close queue ;) stackoverflow.com/questions/22822559/… – schnatterer Apr 4 '14 at 15:56
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    Oh, the irony! possible duplicate of What should you do when your exact question has already been asked, but badly? – Johnny Bones Apr 4 '14 at 17:20
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    Not this time! Plz see my edit. – schnatterer Apr 4 '14 at 17:34
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A bit late, but I came across this question and I decided to answer. Now, we have a new UI for questions with a duplicate vote. If someone flags your questions as a dupe, you get a box telling you the question that yours might be a dupe of and a button that says, "That solved my problem!". When you hit this button, your question automatically closes. Click here for more info.

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    And if you somehow find the duplicate yourself before anyone else, you can currently flag your own question and then confirm it to close. – Troyen Mar 11 '15 at 21:53
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"What should you do when your exact question has already been asked and answered properly?"

Vote/Flag to close your question as a duplicate of the other question.

I wouldn't recommend deleting your question since deleting your question is said to cause more harm then having a question closed as a duplicate. Thus deleting your question can hurt against you more by increasing your chances of being question banned.

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