Etiquette for answering your own question with an answer inspired by another answer

Question

This will probably get closed immediately as a duplicate, but I have read Etiquette for answering your own question and other similar questions, but didn't see this get addressed directly (though I might have missed something).

I've asked a question that someone answered with information that got me to a solution, albeit after some trial and error and additional investigation on my part.

I'd like to record the steps I took, based on their initial pointers, to make it easier for someone else to accomplish the same thing in the future. So:

1. Is it better to edit their answer to include the steps I took or put those in another answer?
2. And if the latter, should I accept my answer as the best? It seems churlish when someone else took the time to answer and got me on the right track, but I think my answer would be more immediately useful for future searchers.

Answer 1

It's happened to me more than a few times that I'll post an answer that is incomplete or turns out to be only partially correct, and the asker will come back with an improved/complete solution. They are generally polite enough to credit me. They also more often than not award me the accepted answer.

Personally, I'm perfectly happy when my answer is used as the basis for another answer, and the OP's answers are usually good: I upvote them almost without exception. I also generally suggest that they award the accepted answer to their own post.

The checkmark is no-one but the OP's to assign, of course, but I think it's best when it's marking a more complete solution, that actually got used by the asker. It can be an important signal when you're inbound from a search.