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Should I ask questions – which I can already answer – just because I think the answer might be relevant and should be archived for future generations to be found?

Example: I was looking for a programming algorithm to solve a common statistics problem. I didn't find the solution (thus implementation) on Stack Exchange or on any other websites. So I came up with my own solution. Since the problem is quite common, I'm wondering if I should ask the question just to see if someone comes up with the same (or better) solution. If not I would answer the question myself.

I acknowledge that I could have asked the question on Stack Exchange (Stack Overflow), when I didn't know the answer. But solving the problem was urgent.

Any ideas?

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  • If the problem is quite common then there would be questions asking for the same thing that you can answer
    – random
    Jul 8, 2016 at 18:56
  • Surprisingly, not in this case. Or maybe I have to reconsider my definition of the word "common".
    – stekhn
    Jul 8, 2016 at 21:59

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Yes, this situation is described explicitly in the help center:

Can I answer my own question?

Yes! Stack Exchange has always explicitly encouraged users to answer their own questions. If you have a question that you already know the answer to, and you would like to document that knowledge in public so that others (including yourself) can find it later, it's perfectly okay to ask and answer your own question on a Stack Exchange site.

One should refrain from posting questions that are too narrow, i.e. unlikely to help future visitors, but you seem to be convinced that it is quite a common problem.

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